A Gustav Klimt portrait of Elisabeth Lederer fetched a record-breaking $236 million at a Sotheby's auction in New York. The painting, completed between 1914 and 1916, depicts the daughter of a wealthy Viennese family and tells a story of survival during the Nazi era. The artwork was previously owned by billionaire Leonard A. Lauder and depicts the family's life before Austria's annexation.
A Gustav Klimt painting broke the record for a modern art sale when it sold to a buyer during Sotheby’s auction Tuesday evening in New York. Here’s what to know about the famed work of art: The painting is 6 feet tall and was painted over three years between 1914 and 1916.
The colorful portrait depicts the daughter of one of Vienna's wealthiest families, the Lederer family. Elisabeth is seen in the portrait adorned in an East Asian emperor’s cloak.The portrait painting was estimated to sell for $150 million, according to the New York Times – but it soared past that estimate after 20 minutes of bidding to sell for $236 million. The New York Times said six bidders were competing. RELATED: Here’s how much the Bob Ross painting auction brought in for public TVThe painting depicts the Lederer family's life of luxury before Nazi Germany annexed Austria in 1938. Nazis looted the family’s art collection, leaving only their family portraits, which were considered "too Jewish" to be worth stealing, according to the National Gallery of Canada, where the painting was previously on loan.In an attempt to save herself, Elisabeth Lederer made up a story that Klimt, who was not Jewish and died in 1918, was her father. It helped that the artist spent years working meticulously on her portrait.With help from her former brother-in-law, a high-ranking Nazi official, she convinced the Nazis to give her a document stating that she descended from Klimt. That allowed her to remain safely in Vienna until she died of an illness in 1944.The painting had belonged to billionaire Leonard A. Lauder, heir to cosmetics giant The Estée Lauder Companies. He died earlier this year at 92, leaving behind an impressive collection worth more than $400 million.RELATED: White House ousts arts commission members expected to oversee Trump’s building projectsSotheby’s declined to share the identity of the buyer. While the Klimt sale set a record for the most expensive sale of a modern art piece, it isn’t the most expensive piece in art history. The most expensive artwork sold at auction remains Leonardo da Vinci’s "Salvator Mundi," which sold in 2017 for $450.3 million, with fees, at Christie’s, The New York Times reported. Salvator Mundi is Latin for "Savior of the World." It’s believed the painting was produced sometime between 1499-1510.Before "Portrait of Elisabeth Lederer" broke the modern art record, that title belonged to an Andy Warhol portrait of Marilyn Monroe, which sold for $195 million in 2022.
Gustav Klimt Auction Painting Elisabeth Lederer Nazi Era
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