The ‘Portrait of Elisabeth Lederer’ by Gustav Klimt|Sotheby’s|X
Austrian painter Gustav Klimt’s Portrait of Elisabeth Lederer is now the most expensive modern artwork ever sold at auction. It fetched $236.4 million after a 20-minute bidding war at Sotheby’s this week.
It beat the 2022 record set by Andy Warhol’s Marilyn Monroe painting. It also became the priciest piece Sotheby’s has ever handled. The most ever paid for an artwork stands at $450 million for Leonardo da Vinci’s Salvator Mundi.
Klimt’s portrait is of historical significance since it was painted during his final years, and survived looting by the Nazi’s during World War II.
Sotheby’s auction also featured Maurizio Cattelan’s 18-karat gold toilet, America, which sold for $12.1 million, including fees. He is known for the Comedian art piece, a banana duct-taped to a wall, which sold for $6.2 million in 2024.
Sotheby’s expects to exceed $1 billion in total sales this week. The wider art market faces falling global sales, struggling galleries, and an 8% decline in auction totals last year.