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Gustav Klimt portrait painting sells for record $236 million at New York auction
The portrait’s $236.4 million sale sets a modern art record and highlights its rarity and historical significance, having survived Nazi looting and a 20-minute bidding war involving six collectors.
- On Tuesday, Nov. 18, 2025, Gustav Klimt's Portrait of Elisabeth Lederer fetched $236.4 million at Sotheby's in New York, becoming the second most expensive artwork ever sold at auction.
- Rarity and provenance pushed collectors to compete as Sotheby's said Klimt's full-length portraits from his 1912-17 pinnacle period are exceptionally rare and the lot came from Leonard A. Lauder's collection after surviving World War II intact.
- Six bidders battled for 20 minutes over the Portrait of Elisabeth Lederer, and Sotheby's did not disclose the buyer's identity.
- The sale included Maurizio Cattelan's `America`, a fully functional, 18-karat-gold toilet satirizing superwealth, which sold for $12.1 million after Sotheby's exhibition, with the auction house calling it an incisive commentary.
- The market benchmark remains the $450 million `Salvator Mundi`, while Sotheby's will soon offer a Frida Kahlo self-portrait potentially surpassing her $34.4 million record, with past benchmarks like Georgia O'Keeffe's $44.4 million.
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Gustav Klimt Painting Sells for $236.4 Million, Becoming Most Valuable Modern Painting
Gustav Klimt's legacy just got a little greener. After all, the symbolist artist's painting Bildnis Elisabeth Lederer (or Portrait of Elisabeth Lederer in English) was sold for $236.4 million,...
·United States
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Klimt portrait sells for record $236.4 million — most ...
·Washington, United States
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Six people participated in a 20-minute competition for the Portrait of Elisabeth Lederer, painted between 1914 and 1916.
·Belgrade, Serbia
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Coverage Details
Total News Sources193
Leaning Left27Leaning Right20Center59Last UpdatedBias Distribution56% Center
Bias Distribution
- 56% of the sources are Center
56% Center
L 25%
C 56%
R 19%
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