A Gustav Klimt portrait that helped its Jewish subject survive the Holocaust has sold for US$236.4 million, making it the world’s most expensive modern artwork at auction.
'Portrait of Elisabeth Lederer' sparked a 20-minute bidding battle at Sotheby’s in New York on November 18. Painted between 1914 and 1916, the work portrays the daughter of a wealthy Viennese family and was created in the final years of Klimt’s life.
The painting also carries a remarkable wartime history. After the Nazi annexation of Austria, the family’s art collection was looted, but their portraits were left behind as “too Jewish” to be taken. To avoid deportation, Elisabeth Lederer claimed that Klimt was her biological father, a lie that, supported by her former brother-in-law, a high-ranking Nazi official, secured documents allowing her to remain in Vienna until her death from illness in 1944.
The sale surpasses the previous modern-art record set by one of Andy Warhol’s Marilyn Monroe portraits, 'Shot Sage Blue Marilyn,' which fetched US$195 million in 2022.
Indeed, while many of the most valuable paintings in the world are hanging on the walls of famous museums, there are still some masterpieces that circulate on the market. Check out this gallery to see the most expensive paintings ever sold at auction.