A painting by Gustav Klimt, which played a role in saving its Jewish subject’s life during the Holocaust, was sold for $236.4 million US at Sotheby’s in New York City. The sale set a new record for a modern art piece, following a 20-minute bidding war. This portrait of Elisabeth Lederer is now the most expensive artwork ever sold by Sotheby’s. Notably, a fully functional solid gold toilet was another highlight of the auction, fetching $12.1 million.
The Klimt painting is one of only two full-length portraits by the Austrian artist that are still privately owned and survived World War II intact. Painted between 1914 and 1916, it depicts Elisabeth Lederer, the daughter of one of Vienna’s wealthiest families, wearing an East Asian emperor’s cloak. The portrait was safeguarded from destruction when other Klimt paintings perished in a fire at an Austrian castle.
The vibrant portrait showcases the opulent lifestyle of the Lederer family before Austria was annexed by Nazi Germany in 1938. Despite the Nazis looting the Lederer art collection, the family portraits, including this one, were spared as they were deemed “too Jewish” to be of value for looting, as noted by the National Gallery of Canada. Elisabeth Lederer managed to protect herself by fabricating a story that Klimt, who was not Jewish and had passed away in 1918, was her father. Her close connection to the artist, evident in the meticulous work he put into her portrait, helped her convince the Nazis, with the aid of her former brother-in-law, a high-ranking Nazi official, to issue a document affirming her as Klimt’s descendant.
The painting was part of a collection owned by Leonard A. Lauder, a billionaire and heir to The Estée Lauder Companies, who passed away earlier this year. The buyer of the portrait at the auction remains undisclosed. This sale surpassed the previous record set by an Andy Warhol portrait of Marilyn Monroe, which sold for $195 million in 2022.
In the same auction, a satirical solid gold toilet by Maurizio Cattelan, known for his provocative art, sold for $12.1 million US. Weighing 101 kilograms and made of 18-karat gold, the piece titled “America” humorously critiques extreme wealth. Cattelan’s intention was to highlight the equalizing nature of human waste, regardless of one’s financial status. Sotheby’s described the toilet as a sharp commentary on the intersection of art production and commodity value.
Interestingly, this golden toilet is not the artist’s only creation in this theme. Another similar piece was famously displayed at the Guggenheim Museum in New York and later offered to President Donald Trump by the museum as a loan. The toilet was stolen while exhibited at Blenheim Palace in England, the birthplace of Winston Churchill. Although two individuals were convicted in connection with the theft, the fate of the stolen toilet remains unknown, with speculations that it may have been dismantled and melted down.
Before the auction, “America” was showcased at Sotheby’s New York headquarters.