Lost Gustav Klimt painting fetches €30 million at auction
It’s always a pleasant surprise when you put on an old jacket, or look behind the sofa, or clean out the attic, and find something you thought was long-lost. For most of us, however, that lost object is probably not a priceless painting by the legendary Austrian symbolist artist Gustav Klimt.
Nevertheless, a painting entitled Portrait of Fräulein Lieser resurfaced last year, over a century after it was painted. Started in the spring of 1917, a year before the death of Klimt, the unfinished portrait was thought lost until last year. Prior to this recent discovery, the only evidence of the painting’s existence was a black-and-white photograph, so it was debated whether the portrait was still in existence, or whether it was destroyed.
The auction house im Kinsky, based in Vienna, announced the painting had been discovered in January, and that it was going to be auctioned off. Since then, over 15,000 people have visited im Kinsky to view the work by the highly influential artist, which had an estimated value of between €30m and €50m.
Given its intriguing backstory and the vast publicity around the painting, the auction house experienced something of a buzz around the sale. Added to that was the fact that, at an auction in London last year, a Klimt portrait from the same period sold for a record price of £74m. However, the painting was unfinished, which meant that it ended up being sold for €30m – around £25m.
Many prominent works from European artists went missing, or were destroyed, during the Second World War at the hands of the Nazi party. Klimt’s work is, by no means, an exception to this. Originally, the portrait was a commissioned piece by the Lieser family, though the exact family member depicted in the painting remains largely unknown.
Given Lieser’s position as wealthy Jewish industrialist in Austria, the idea that the painting was stolen away by invading Nazi forces seems fairly likely. However, art historians and the im Kinsky auction house have been unable to discern the painting’s exact location between 1925 and 1961.
It is thought that the painting returned to the descendants of the family during the 1960s, and was subsequently passed down through various inheritances, which brings us to the modern day. The new owner of Portrait of Fräulein Lieser has not been made public, so it is unclear whether the painting will finally go on public display, or remain hidden away in a private collection.
