$236M Sale of Gustav Klimt Portrait Breaks Modern Art Record

A remarkable Gustav Klimt portrait has set a new benchmark in the modern art world after selling for an astonishing $236.4 million, marking the highest price ever achieved for a modern artwork. The painting, Portrait of Elisabeth Lederer, was sold at Sotheby’s in New York following an intense 20-minute bidding war, and its price now surpasses all previous records, including Andy Warhol’s Portrait of Marilyn Monroe, which sold for $195 million in 2022.

Painted between 1914 and 1916, the portrait stands 6 feet (1.8 metres) tall and depicts Elisabeth Lederer, a young woman from one of Vienna’s wealthiest and most influential families. In the image, Klimt adorned her in an elaborate cloak inspired by East Asian imperial robes, highlighting both the family's affluence and Klimt’s fascination with global artistic influences. This portrait is one of only two surviving full-length Klimt portraits that are still held in private hands, which greatly enhances its rarity and value.

The painting carries not only artistic significance but also historical weight. During World War II, the artwork became deeply intertwined with the survival of its subject, Elisabeth Lederer, who was Jewish. When Nazi Germany annexed Austria in 1938, Jewish families like the Lederers faced persecution, confiscation of property, and constant danger. The Lederer family's extensive art collection was looted by the Third Reich, but paradoxically, the family portraits, including Elisabeth’s, were left behind because Nazi authorities deemed them “too Jewish” and therefore not worthy of seizure.

As the Nazi threat intensified, Elisabeth Lederer took an extraordinary step to save her life. She fabricated the story that Gustav Klimt—who was not Jewish and had died in 1918—was her biological father. Her claim gained credibility partly because Klimt had spent several years working meticulously on her portrait, making the relationship seem plausible. This fictional connection became her shield against Nazi persecution.

Elisabeth also received assistance from her former brother-in-law, who had become a high-ranking Nazi official. With his help, she managed to obtain documentation from the regime stating that she descended from Klimt. This falsified “proof” of non-Jewish lineage enabled her to remain in Vienna relatively safely throughout the war. Tragically, she died not from violence but from illness in 1944, just a year before the end of the war.

The portrait itself survived the war in part because it had been kept separate from other Klimt works belonging to the Lederers—many of which were destroyed in a devastating fire at an Austrian castle as the war drew to a close. Over the decades, the painting passed through various hands and was even on loan to the National Gallery of Canada, where its wartime history and the dramatic story of Elisabeth Lederer continued to gain recognition.

Sotheby’s has not disclosed the identity of the buyer who secured the masterpiece at the record-breaking price. Nonetheless, the sale represents a monumental moment in the history of modern art auctions, reaffirming both Klimt’s enduring cultural impact and the extraordinary power of art to carry stories of beauty, tragedy, survival, and historical memory through generations.