Gustav Klimt’s Portrait of Elisabeth Lederer was sold for $236.4 million at Sotheby’s New York, making it the second most expensive artwork ever auctioned, the Guardian reported.
The portrait, painted between 1914 and 1916, drew six bidders. The bidding lasted just 20 minutes before an undisclosed buyer offered the record-high sum.
The painting has a long history of changing owners. During the Second World War, it was looted by the Nazis and nearly destroyed, but was returned to the Lederer family in 1948. In 1985, the portrait was acquired by Leonard Lauder, who owned a large private art collection and paid special attention to the Klimt piece.
Meanwhile, the most expensive artwork ever sold at auction remains Leonardo da Vinci’s Salvator Mundi, which fetched $450.3 million in 2017.
