Austrian artist Gustav Klimt’s “Portrait of Elisabeth Lederer” was sold at a Sotheby’s auction in New York for $236.4 million, according to Bloomberg.
The portrait, painted between 1914 and 1916 and completed two years before the artist’s death, became the most expensive work of modern art and the second most expensive painting ever sold at auction. The buyer’s name has not been disclosed.
Elisabeth Lederer is the daughter of Austrian businessman August Lederer. During the occupation of Austria, she pretended to be Klimt’s daughter to hide her Jewish origins. The Nazis stole the portrait from her family, but in 1948 the painting was returned, after which it was sold to art dealer Serge Sabarsky in 1983. In 1985, the painting was purchased by Leonard Lauder, son of the founders of the Estee Lauder brand, who remained the owner of the painting until his death at the age of 92 in June this year.
Another 23 lots from the Lauder collection were sold at auction, including a drawing by Vincent van Gogh and a bronze statuette by Henri Matisse, for a total of $527.5 million.
