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> Culture

Portrait by Gustav Klimt becomes the second most expensive painting ever sold at an auction — $236.4 million

Six eager bidders competed for about 20 minutes over the painting Bildnis Elisabeth Lederer

Newsroom November 19 11:03

The second most expensive painting ever auctioned is a portrait created between 1914-1916 by Austrian artist Gustav Klimt. It sold for $236.4 million (€204 million) at Sotheby’s auction house in New York.

The most anticipated lot of the evening, Gustav Klimt’s 'Bildnis Elisabeth Lederer (Portrait of Elisabeth Lederer)', has just sold for an astonishing $236.4 million.

It now stands as the most valuable work of Modern art ever sold at auction. pic.twitter.com/hZFP1fC47l

— Sotheby's (@Sothebys) November 18, 2025

The most expensive painting ever sold at auction remains Salvator Mundi, attributed to Leonardo da Vinci, which changed hands for $450 million in 2017.

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Six prospective buyers bid on the Bildnis Elisabeth Lederer for around 20 minutes. The oil on canvas measures 1.80 x 1.30 meters and had been estimated at $150 million. It depicts the daughter of Klimt’s main patron, dressed in a white Chinese imperial robe against a blue wallpaper with Asian-inspired designs.

Sotheby’s did not disclose the buyer’s identity.

Sotheby’s emphasized that Klimt’s large portraits from his most important period (1912-1917) are “extremely rare.” Most belong to major museum collections, with very few in private hands.

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