A PORTRAIT BY Austrian artist Gustav Klimt fetched $236.4 million in New York yesterday, becoming the second most expensive artwork ever sold at auction.

Six bidders battled for 20 minutes over the “Portrait of Elisabeth Lederer,” which Klimt painted between 1914 and 1916.

The piece depicts the daughter of Klimt’s main patron dressed in a white imperial Chinese dress, standing before a blue tapestry with Asian-inspired motifs.

It was looted by the Nazis and nearly destroyed in a fire during World War II, but in 1948 it was returned to Elisabeth Lederer’s brother Erich.

It remained in Erich’s possession for most of his life, until he sold it in 1983, two years before his death.

Sotheby’s, which managed the sale, did not disclose the identity of the buyer.

Portrait of Elisabeth Lederer by artist Gustav Klimt Alamy Stock Photo Alamy Stock Photo

The most expensive painting ever sold at auction remains the “Salvator Mundi,” attributed to Leonardo da Vinci, which was bought for $450 million in 2017.

“Full-length society portraits of this impressive scale and from Klimt’s pinnacle period (1912-17) are exceptionally rare; the majority in major museum collections,” Sotheby’s said of Tuesday’s sale.

“The painting offered this evening was one of only two such commissioned portraits remaining in private hands,” it added in a statement.

Several other works from Klimt were auctioned at the same event, including “Flowering Meadow” for $86 million and “Forest Slope at Unterach am Attersee” for $68.3 million – both part of the collection of Estee Lauder cosmetics heir Leonard Lauder, who died earlier this year.

In total, 24 lots from the Lauder collection generated $527.5 million.

For Klimt, the past auction record for his work was held by “Lady with a Fan,” which sold for $108.8 million in London in 2023.

Another notable auction yesterday saw Italian provocateur Maurizio Cattelan’s solid gold toilet go for $12.1 million, and was sold to a famous American brand, according to Sotheby’s.

An earlier version of the luxe latrine, titled “America,” was stolen in 2019 from a castle in England.

Though it was never recovered – and likely was melted down for cash – three men were convicted in connection with the theft.

Tomorrow, a self-portrait by Frida Kahlo has a chance of setting a record for a female artist when it goes on sale, also at Sotheby’s in New York.

Estimated at $40 to $60 million, the 1940 piece called “The Dream (The Bed)” shows the Mexican painter sleeping in a bed overshadowed by a large skeleton.

The most expensive painting by a female artist sold to date is a 1932 work by American Georgia O’Keeffe, which fetched $44.4 million in 2014.

The record for Frida Kahlo is another self-portrait from 1949, “Diego and I,” which sold for $34.4 million in New York.

- © AFP 2025