US EditionGustav 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.
206 Articles
206 Articles
Sotheby’s auction house art record broken after Gustav Klimt painting fetches over $236m
A portrait by Austrian painter Gustav Klimt has sold for $236m (€203m) – making it the most valuable art ever sold at Sotheby’s and the second most expensive work of art in auctioning history.
Klimt auction smashes records
Gustav Klimt’s became the world’s most valuable work of modern art at auction. Its $236.4 million price also made it the second most expensive artwork auctioned overall. The portrait by the Austrian pioneer of symbolism and was painted between 1914 and 1916, and depicted a young Jewish Viennese society woman; it was confiscated by the Nazis after the Austrian . The record price is a rare bright spot for the high-end art market, which is struggli…
Gustav Klimt Painting Sells for $236.4 Million, Becoming Most Valuable Modern Painting
Gustav Klimt's Bildnis Elisabeth Lederer painting sold for more than $236 million, becoming the second-most-expensive work of art to be auctioned, behind Leonardo da Vinci's Salvator Mundi.
Klimt portrait sells for record $236.4 million — most ...
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