NEW YORK - Gustav Klimt‘s ”Portrait of Elisabeth Lederer” sold for $236 million at Sotheby’s on Tuesday, becoming the most expensive work of modern art ever auctioned. The sale price, including fees, surpassed the previous record of $209.3 million paid for Amedeo Modigliani‘s ”Nu couché” in 2015.
The portrait, depicting Elisabeth Lederer, a prominent Viennese socialite, was painted between 1914 and 1916. It had been in the collection of Steve Cohen, owner of the New York jets and a major art collector, who acquired the piece when gold prices were around $1,200 per ounce.
The artwork is one of three in Klimt’s “America” series, with the frist exhibited at the Guggenheim Museum in New York in 2016. The Guggenheim offered the sculpture to than-President Donald Trump when he requested a loan of a Van Gogh painting for the White House.
Another sculpture from the series was stolen in London after being exhibited there and was believed to have been melted down for its gold content – the work is made of 102.8 kilos of 18-carat gold. Authorities detained two suspects, but the piece was never recovered.
The auction result comes as the price of gold has increased by 48% compared to last year, exceeding $4,000 per ounce in October, driven by uncertainty in the US economy. The piece was awarded for $12.10 million after a single bid, with the symbolic value estimated at $2.1 million based on auction house rates.