Klimt's record-breaking portrait of Elisabeth Lederer sells for over $150 million at auction in New York

A masterpiece by Gustav Klimt is set to make history on the international auction stage: the full-length portrait of Elisabeth Lederer will be auctioned by Sotheby’s in New York on November 18, with an estimate exceeding $150 million. The work, which has never before entered a salesroom, comes from the prestigious Leonard A. Lauder Collection and represents one of the pinnacles of the Austrian master’s output during Vienna’s Golden Age. Helena Newman, Chairman of Impressionist & Modern Art Worldwide at Sotheby’s, described the painting as “the embodiment of the aesthetics of the Viennese Golden Age, where youth, beauty, color and ornament blend into an extraordinary modernist portrait.” The auction heralds a record for Klimt, placing the work among the most expensive ever to appear since the legendary Paul Allen Collection sale in 2022.

Alongside the main portrait, two square landscapes by Klimt will also be auctioned: Blumenwiese, painted in 1908 and estimated at over $80 million, and Waldhag bei Unterach am Attersee, painted in 1916 and valued at $70 million. A trio of works among the most coveted in the global market, ready to challenge the hammer at Sotheby’s autumn evening sale under the lights of Manhattan. The auction promises to reignite a market that in recent seasons has seen few opportunities of such magnitude, further enriched by the simultaneous presence of giants like Matisse, Munch, Picasso, Agnes Martin, Claes Oldenburg, and Coosje van Bruggen.

The history and pedigree of these works are deeply tied to Leonard A. Lauder, collector and patron, Chairman Emeritus of Estée Lauder, who passed away last June. Lauder’s journey in the art world began in 1966 with the purchase of a Dada collage by Kurt Schwitters at Sotheby’s Parke Bernet. From there, he built one of the world’s most important Cubist collections, enriching the holdings of the Metropolitan Museum with the donation of eighty-nine exceptional works. In 2008, his $131 million gift to the Whitney Museum of American Art enabled the institution’s relocation to its new headquarters, marking the largest single contribution in the Whitney’s history. Charles F. Stewart, CEO of Sotheby’s, remembered Lauder as “an extraordinary patron with a passion for collecting across all eras, techniques, and genres, capable of transforming America’s great museums with his vision and generosity.”

The November sale will thus be dominated by the core of Lauder’s private collection: twenty-four lots, expected to realize over $400 million, led by Klimt’s masterpiece. The portrait of Elisabeth Lederer, painted between 1914 and 1916, is not only one of Klimt’s last full-length figure paintings, but also carries strong biographical and historical significance. The young sitter, daughter of industrialist August Lederer and Serena, was born into a Viennese Jewish family that became a central reference point and major patron of Klimt from the first decade of the twentieth century. In Elisabeth’s own recollection: “The months went by making sketches in various positions; uncle [Klimt] cursed and cursed, it was a real pleasure to listen to him. More than once he threw away his pencil, saying that people too close should never be painted. He was never satisfied with that work. And the whole project lasted even longer than expected, until my mother lost patience, loaded the picture into the car, and kidnapped it.” Executed with meticulous slowness amid uncertainties and revisions, the painting represents the peak of Klimt’s stylistic maturity, imbued with an intimate, familial narrative.

The destiny of the work intersects with the tragedy of Nazism: to save her life during the years of persecution, Elisabeth Lederer claimed that Klimt, “of German blood,” was her father. The portrait itself was confiscated by the Zentralstelle für Denkmalschutz and returned to the Lederer heirs after the war, in 1946. Since then, this iconic painting has traversed decades of history, now destined to surpass the record price of Dame mit Fächer, another Klimt masterpiece sold at Sotheby’s in 2023 for $108.8 million. The Porträt der Elisabeth Lederer thus stands not only as a summit of twentieth-century painting, but also as a witness to the familial, social, and political upheavals of modern Europe.

The inclusion of Klimt’s other works—landscapes that reconstruct his reflection on nature and color—further shapes an auction that promises to be memorable in every respect: from the rarity of the works to their history, to the symbolic value of a collection that has profoundly shaped the cultural policies of two of America’s most important institutions. As New York prepares to welcome collectors from around the world, anticipation builds for the evening of November 18, when, beneath the electric skyline of the city, Sotheby’s will stage not just a market event, but a key chapter in the history of modern art. Never before has such a significant Klimt portrait been presented to the public: youth, hope, trauma, and rebirth intertwine on the face of Elisabeth Lederer, conveying the golden, decorative aura that has made Klimt’s art unforgettable.

The power of this moment lies not only in the exceptional figures expected, but in the sense of continuity and memory carried by the Lauder Collection. Auctions become mirrors of society, places of revelation and transfer of cultural values, moving between private patronage and public destinies. It will therefore be a journey through a century of history: from the heart of fin-de-siècle Vienna to the modernist salons of Manhattan, from the tragedies of persecution to the triumphs of Western collecting—a path of art, patronage, and humanity encapsulated in the face of young Lederer. And alongside Klimt, the presence of Matisse, Picasso, and Munch further elevates the profile of a sale poised to reshape the landscape of global collecting.

This autumn in America, the art market awakens, ready to celebrate not only the universal value of a painting, but also its function as a portal to stories and identities: in Klimt’s line shines nostalgia, hope, beauty, and the struggles of life, all contained within a canvas that becomes narrative, document, and dream. At auction, the Porträt der Elisabeth Lederer thus becomes a new icon of a restless and radiant century, ready to conquer time and audience alike with the eternal power of art.