It was a defining moment for the depressed art market when a lush portrait of a woman by Gustav Klimt became the second-most expensive painting ever sold at auction and a record for the Austrian painter on Tuesday evening, rocketing past its $150 million estimate after more than 19 minutes of bidding to achieve $236.4 million with fees at Sotheby’s in New York.
Patrick Drahi, the auction house’s owner, watched as the number increased, whispering to his consigliere. The company’s chief executive, Charles Stewart, bit his lip at $170 million. When the painting surpassed the $200 million mark, the audience clapped. The two men clasped arms and laughed.
Two security guards outside the salesroom laughed. “I could use that,” one said.
The most expensive artwork sold at auction was Salvator Mundi by Leonardo da Vinci, which set a record for $450.3 million. during a 2017 Christie’s sale.
The painting of Elisabeth Lederer, the daughter of the artist’s prominent patrons, came from the estate of the cosmetics heir Leonard A. Lauder, who died in June. It was expected to generate about $150 million, the highest estimate of all 1,450 works on offer during a closely watched marathon week.
Sotheby’s declined to identify the buyer.
Painted between 1914 and 1916, the image of a rosy-cheeked 20-year-old wearing an imperial Chinese dragon robe had hung for close to 40 years in Lauder’s Fifth Avenue apartment and is believed to be one of only two full-length portraits by Klimt — one of the founders of the influential Vienna Secessionist movement — still in private hands. “Portrait of Elisabeth Lederer” overtook Klimt’s previous auction high of $108 million, set in 2023. (Lauder’s brother, Ronald, paid $135 million in a private sale in 2006 for “Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer 1,” known as “Woman in Gold,” or about $217.5 million today, when adjusting for inflation.)
Tuesday’s sale came with high stakes for Sotheby’s, which agreed to pay Lauder’s estate a minimum for all 54 works from the collection to win the consignment, including two landscapes by Klimt. (About half the Lauder collection was sold Tuesday night, and the additional works will be auctioned Wednesday morning.) Klimt’s portrait of Lederer represented more than one-third of the total group’s estimated value of about $400 million.
Zachary Small is a Times reporter writing about the art world’s relationship to money, politics and technology.
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At $236.4 Million, Portrait by Klimt is Second Most Expensive Painting Sold at Auction appeared first on New York Times.
