A portrait of Gustav Klimt who saved the lives of Jews during the Holocaust has sold for $236.4 million (€204 million), breaking the record for a modern art work held by Andy Warhol’s portrait of Marilyn Monroe, which sold for $195 million (€168 million) in 2022.
Klimt’s “Bildniss Elisabeth Lederer” (Portrait of Elisabeth Lederer) was sold at Sotheby’s in New York after a 20-minute bidding war. Sotheby’s declined to reveal the identity of the portrait’s purchaser.
This 1.8 meter tall portrait was painted over a three-year period between 1914 and 1916 and depicts the daughter of one of Vienna’s wealthiest families. The film depicts the luxurious life of the Lederer family before Nazi Germany annexed Austria in 1938. The Nazis plundered Lederer’s art collection, leaving only the family portrait, which was considered “too Jewish” to be stolen, 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 her father was not Jewish but Klimt, who died in 1918. With the help of her former brother-in-law, a high-ranking Nazi official, she persuaded the Nazis to give her documents showing that she was a descendant of Klimt. This allowed her to remain safely in Vienna until her death from illness in 1944.
This painting is one of two full-length portraits by the Austrian artist that remain in private ownership. This work was kept separate from other Klimt paintings that were destroyed in a fire at an Austrian castle.
It was part of the collection of billionaire Leonard A. Lauder, heir to cosmetics giant Estée Lauder Companies. He passed away this year at the age of 92, leaving behind an impressive collection worth more than $400 million.
Five works by Klimt from Lauder’s collection were sold at auction for a total of $392 million (338 million euros), Sotheby’s said.