Klimt painting becomes the most expensive work of modern art ever sold at auction

A portrait painting by 20th century Viennese artist Gustav Klimt sold for $236.4 (including fees) at Sotheby's on Tuesday night in what the auction house said was a record for a modern work of art.

The six-foot-tall portrait, painted between 1914 and 1916, depicts Elisabeth Lederer, the young daughter of Klimt’s patrons, wearing a white robe and standing before a blue tapestry adorned with Asian motifs. 

Looted by the Nazis and nearly destroyed in a fire at Immendorf Castle during World War II, the painting was returned to Lederer’s brother in 1948.

It eventually became part of Estée Lauder heir Leonard A. Lauder’s private collection in 1985, where it was displayed in his Fifth Avenue home.

During a 20-minute auction battle, six bidders competed for the painting, which ultimately fetched $205 million ($236.4 million including fees).

Other Klimt works from Lauder’s collection, including Flowering Meadow and Forest Slope at Unterach am Attersee, sold for between $60 million and $80 million each at the same auction.

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Gustav Klimt Elisabeth Lederer Sotheby's Auction modern art Leonard Lauder Sales art history Vienna