US EditionGustav Klimt portrait painting sells for record $236 million at New York auction
- 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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A portrait of Elisabeth Lederer was sold for $236.4 million (€199.88 million), becoming the most expensive work of modern art ever sold at auction.
So much money for a single picture? Last night, a portrait of Gustav Klimt became the second most expensive work in the auction history.
Gustav Klimt's Portrait of Elisabeth Lederer sells for £180m at auction, a record for modern art
Its sale price beat the previous record, set by an Andy Warhol portrait of Marilyn Monroe, which went for $195m in 2022 and puts it second in the all-time list, behind Leonardo da Vinci's Salvator Mundi.
The most expensive table ever sold at auction remains the Salvator Mundi, attributed to Leonardo da Vinci, sold $450 million in 2017.
Sotheby's auction house in New York had a banner night yesterday. Gustav Klimt's Portrait of Elisabeth Lederer sold for over €200 million, and a gold toilet bowl by Maurizio Cattelan went for over €10 million. The Portrait of Elisabeth Lederer is a painting with a remarkable story. The Austrian artist Klimt (1862-1918) painted the woman from a wealthy Viennese family between 1914 and 1916. The commission came from her parents, art collectors who…
Sothebys in New York sold a portrait of Gustav Klimt for $236 million – the highest price so far for a work of modern art. The hype around Maurizio Cattelan's golden toilet, on the other hand, was puffed up.
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