A painting by Gustav Klimt, instrumental in saving its Jewish subject during the Holocaust, was auctioned for a record-breaking $236.4 million US, including fees. The sale, which took place at Sotheby’s in New York City, featured Klimt’s Portrait of Elisabeth Lederer and marked the highest price ever paid for a modern art piece. The most attention-grabbing item of the event was a fully functional solid gold toilet that fetched $12.1 million.
The painting is one of two full-length portraits by Klimt that survived World War II intact and remain in private ownership. Completed over three years from 1914 to 1916, the artwork portrays Elisabeth Lederer, the daughter of a prominent Viennese family, draped in an East Asian emperor’s cloak. It 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 Nazi looting of the Lederer art collection, the family portraits, including this one, were left behind as they were deemed “too Jewish” to be stolen. Elisabeth Lederer, in a bid to protect herself, falsely claimed that Klimt, who was not Jewish and had passed away in 1918, was her father, aided by the fact that the artist had dedicated years to painting her portrait.
Previously part of billionaire Leonard A. Lauder’s collection, the painting’s buyer remains undisclosed. This sale set a new record for 20th-century art, surpassing the previous highest price paid for an Andy Warhol portrait of Marilyn Monroe in 2022.
In the same auction, a satirical solid gold toilet, weighing 101 kilograms and crafted by Maurizio Cattelan, known for his provocative art installations, sold for $12.1 million US. Titled “America,” the toilet mocks extreme wealth, with Cattelan emphasizing the equalizing nature of human bodily functions regardless of financial status. Sotheby’s described the piece as a sharp critique on the convergence of art creation and commercial value.
This golden toilet was not the artist’s only creation of its kind. Another similar work was previously exhibited at the Guggenheim Museum in New York and later offered to former U.S. President Donald Trump. Subsequently, the piece was stolen from an exhibition at Blenheim Palace in England, with the thieves’ actions post-theft remaining undisclosed.
“America” was showcased at Sotheby’s New York headquarters leading up to the auction, attracting significant attention and interest from art collectors and enthusiasts alike.