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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Cele|bitchy | Klimt portrait becomes 2nd most expensive artwork, golden toilet gets 1 bidder
Embed from Getty Images It was a tale of two Sotheby’s auctions in NYC on Tuesday. Up first was Portrait of Elisabeth Lederer by Gustav Klimt, a piece that miraculously eschewed destruction and disappearance after being stolen by the Nazis. The painting was returned to the Lederer family by 1948, where it remained for 35 years until it was sold to makeup heir Leonard A. Lauder, who passed away this year. Sotheby’s expected $10 million $150 milli…
Gustav Klimt Painting Second-Most Expensive Artwork Sold At Auction For $236 Million
[Image: Facebook / Sotheby’s] A mysterious Gustav Klimt painting has just made history by being the second-most expensive artwork ever at auction, and the most expensive ever sold by Sotheby’s. It brought in the record sum of $236.4 million (R4 billion). It comes in just behind Leonardo da Vinci’s Salvator Mundi (Saviour of the World), c 1500, which holds the title of being the most expensive. This amount far outpaced the price that was paid two…
Art market opens with record sale for Klimt’s “Portrait of Elisabeth Lederer”
The “Portrait of Elisabeth Lederer” by the Austrian artist Gustav Klimt, was sold at Sotheby’s on Tuesday night for US$236.4 million, making it the second-most expensive painting ever sold at auction, blowing past its original estimate of more than US$150 million.
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…
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