Overview
- The hammer fell after roughly 20 minutes of bidding, pushing the price far beyond the $150 million estimate, and the buyer was not disclosed.
- The result sets a new auction high for Gustav Klimt and marks the most expensive lot in Sotheby’s history.
- The portrait was offered from Leonard A. Lauder’s collection, with Klimt landscapes also selling strongly, including Blooming Meadow at $86 million and Forest Slope at $68.3 million.
- The sale inaugurated Sotheby’s headquarters in the former Whitney Museum building designed by Marcel Breuer.
- Painted between 1914 and 1916, the work has a documented history of Nazi-era confiscation in 1938 and postwar restitution to the Lederer heirs.