"Portrait of Elisabeth Lederer" by Viennese Painting Legend Gustav Klimt Auctioned for 236 Million Dollars in New York

Thus, the 180 x 128 cm painting, created between 1914 and 1916, which depicts the youthful Elisabeth Lederer - the daughter of Szerena Lederer, a confidante of Klimt - against an exotic background, also broke numerous other records, as the auctioneer announced. It became the most expensive work ever sold by Sotheby's and the most expensive work of modern art.

Two More Klimt Paintings Also Sold

Only the painting "Salvator Mundi" by Leonardo da Vinci, dating from the early 16th century, has fetched more at an auction, being auctioned for 450.3 million dollars in 2017. The previously most expensive artwork from the 20th century was Andy Warhol's "Shot Sage Blue Marilyn" (1964), which was auctioned for 195 million US dollars at Christie's in New York in 2022.

Klimt's "Flower Meadow," estimated at 80 million dollars, was sold for 75 million - with a premium of 86 million. "Forest Slope in Unterach am Attersee," estimated at 70 million dollars, achieved a hammer price of 61 million - which, according to the auction house's calculations, resulted in a sale price of 70.76 million dollars. All paintings came from the collection of the late billionaire Leonard A. Lauder.

The Klimt auction record was previously held by the painting "Lady with Fan," which changed hands for the equivalent of 108.4 million US dollars at Sotheby's in London in 2023. Not officially, because achieved through private sales, are three other sums that have now also been surpassed: In 2006, the portrait "Adele Bloch-Bauer I" was reportedly sold to Ronald Lauder - the younger brother of Leonard A. Lauder - for 135 million dollars. In 2017, US media star Oprah Winfrey is said to have sold "Adele Bloch-Bauer II" for 150 million dollars to a Chinese buyer. Even more is said to have been paid for "Water Serpents II" in 2015 - the suspected sums range between 170 and 200 million dollars.

(APA/Red.)

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