Overview
- The six-foot portrait drew nearly 20 minutes of bidding, with the winning phone bid placed through Sotheby’s specialist Julian Dawes at a $205 million hammer.
- The price set an auction record for Gustav Klimt and the highest for a work of modern art sold at auction, ranking second overall behind Leonardo’s Salvator Mundi.
- Sotheby’s said the Leonard A. Lauder Collection realized about $575.5 million with fees, with proceeds designated for the Lauder trust.
- The auction inaugurated Sotheby’s new U.S. headquarters in the refurbished Breuer Building and was viewed as a strong result for blue-chip works after a slower period for sales.
- Two Klimt landscapes sold for $86 million and $70.7 million, and an Edvard Munch achieved $35.1 million, while the buyer of the Klimt portrait was not identified.