A portrait by Austrian artist Gustav Klimt fetched $236.4 million (R4.05 billion) in New York on Tuesday, turning into the second costliest paintings ever bought at public sale.
Six bidders battled for 20 minutes over the “Portrait of Elisabeth Lederer,” which Klimt painted between 1914 and 1916.
Didn’t disclose the client
The piece depicts the daughter of Klimt’s essential patron wearing a white imperial Chinese language gown, standing earlier than a blue tapestry with Asian-inspired motifs.
Sotheby’s, which managed the sale, didn’t disclose the id of the client.
The costliest portray ever bought at public sale stays the “Salvator Mundi,” attributed to Leonardo da Vinci, which was purchased for $450 million in 2017.
“Full-length society portraits of this spectacular scale and from Klimt’s pinnacle interval (1912-17) are exceptionally uncommon; the bulk in main museum collections,” Sotheby’s stated of Tuesday’s sale.
“The portray provided this night was considered one of solely two such commissioned portraits remaining in non-public arms,” it added in an announcement.
Assortment of Estee Lauder cosmetics inheritor
A number of different works from Gustav Klimt had been auctioned on the similar occasion, together with “Flowering Meadow” for $86 million and “Forest Slope at Unterach am Attersee” for $68.3 million – each a part of the gathering of Estee Lauder cosmetics inheritor Leonard Lauder, who died earlier this 12 months.
In whole, 24 tons from the Lauder assortment generated $527.5 million.
For Klimt, the previous public sale file for his work was held by “Woman with a Fan,” which bought for $108.8 million in London in 2023.
One other notable public sale on Tuesday noticed Italian provocateur Maurizio Cattelan’s stable gold bathroom go for $12.1 million, and was bought to a well-known American model, in line with Sotheby’s.
An earlier model of the luxe latrine, titled “America,” was stolen in 2019 from a citadel in England.
Although it was by no means recovered – and certain was melted down for money – three males had been convicted in reference to the theft.
Feminine artist file
On Thursday, a self-portrait by Frida Kahlo has an opportunity of setting a file for a feminine artist when it goes on sale, additionally at Sotheby’s in New York.
Estimated at $40 to $60 million, the 1940 piece referred to as “The Dream (The Mattress)” reveals the Mexican painter sleeping in a mattress overshadowed by a big skeleton.
The costliest portray by a feminine artist bought so far is a 1932 work by American Georgia O’Keeffe, which fetched $44.4 million in 2014.
The file for Frida Kahlo is one other self-portrait from 1949, “Diego and I,” which bought for $34.4 million in New York.
By Garrin Lambley © Agence France-Presse
