A monumental portrait by Gustav Klimt, poised to become one of the most expensive artworks ever sold, will headline Sotheby’s evening sale on November 18, per news.artnet.com. ‘Portrait of Elisabeth Lederer’ (1914–16) is expected to fetch as much as $150 million, a figure that would obliterate the artist’s current $108.4 million auction record.
The masterpiece comes from the renowned collection of the late cosmetics magnate Leonard Lauder. It depicts the 20-year-old daughter of Klimt’s most important patrons, the prominent Jewish Lederer family of Vienna.
Beyond its artistic brilliance, the painting carries an extraordinary story of survival. Following the Nazi annexation of Austria, Elisabeth Lederer, who remained in Vienna, faced persecution. To save herself from deportation to a concentration camp, she made a daring claim: that she was the illegitimate daughter of the non-Jewish artist, Gustav Klimt.
Her mother, Serena, writing from exile, corroborated the falsehood under oath. The Nazi regime accepted the claim, reclassifying Elisabeth as “half-Aryan” and shielding her from the horrors inflicted upon so many others.
The Lederer family’s extensive art collection, including this portrait, was confiscated by the Nazis but was later restored to the family after the war. This sale offers a rare opportunity to acquire a stunning work of art intrinsically linked to a dramatic chapter of 20th-century history.
•Featured image: Gustav Klimt, Portrait of Elisabeth Lederer (1914–16)/courtesy of Sotheby’s New York
