People converse near the Leonard A. Lauder Collection (Portrait of Elizabeth Lederer) during a preview of auction house Sotheby’s new headquarters in Manhattan, New York City, USA on November 7, 2025.
Eduardo Muñoz | Reuters
Gustav Klimt’s “Portrait of Elisabeth Lederer” sold for $236.4 million at Sotheby’s on Tuesday night, making it the second most expensive painting ever sold at auction and breathing new life into a high-end art market that has been in the doldrums for three years.
The portrait was the most expensive painting ever sold at Sotheby’s auction, exceeding its original estimate of more than $150 million.
Sotheby’s said the sale, which did not name the buyer, followed 20 minutes of active bidding from at least six interested parties. The work was sold to an anonymous buyer over the phone with Julian Dawes, Sotheby’s vice chairman and head of Impressionist and Modern Art.
“The evening sale was a huge success and sent a strong signal to the art market,” said Sotheby’s CEO Charles Stewart.
He said the sales results, along with the large crowds that came to see the works at Sotheby’s new headquarters in Manhattan’s Breuer Building, were a sign of a vibrant market.
The Klimt sale takes place during the most important sales week of the year for the art market.
Total sales are expected to exceed $1.4 billion and possibly $2 billion, more than double last year’s total sales.
Art experts and auction houses say the market is buoyed by renewed optimism among collectors and the arrival of several top collections, including rare masterpieces by blue-chip artists.
This week’s auction included an eye-catching work by Maurizio Cattelan, the Italian artist who became famous for his $6.2 million “Comedian” sculpture of a banana duct taped to a wall. His work “America”, which goes up for auction this week, is a fully functioning 220-pound solid gold toilet. The winning bid was $12.1 million, higher than the starting price of $10 million but lower than most expectations, Sotheby’s said.
The Klimt is part of the collection of Estée Lauder heir and longtime art collector Leonard Lauder, whose total value is expected to exceed $400 million. In addition to Lederer’s portrait, the collection includes two landscape paintings by Klimt, which sold for $86 million and $68 million, respectively.
Christie’s sales have exceeded $747 million so far this week. On Monday, the company auctioned a Mark Rothko painting, part of the collection of Robert F. Weiss and Patricia G. Roth Weiss, for $62.2 million. A Picasso that was part of the collection also sold for $45.5 million.
The sale continues this week with low prices during the day and a big night sale at Philips.
