A portrait by Gustav Klimt, missing for a century, recently fetched $32 million at a Vienna auction house. The Portrait of Fräulein Lieser (1917), with an estimated value of €30 million–€50 million ($32.5 million–$55 million), was acquired by a buyer from Hong Kong, represented by Hong Kong advisory firm Patti Wong & Associates.
Claudia Mörth-Gasser, Im Kinsky’s head of modern art, expressed delight at the sale, noting that the house was “overjoyed… but not really surprised.” She had previously lauded the artwork as “incredibly well preserved, in almost unblemished original condition.” Before this landmark sale, the small auction house’s highest recorded price was $6.1 million, achieved for an Egon Schiele piece. The price realized for the Klimt, a prominent figure in the Vienna Secessionist movement, marks the highest ever achieved by any Austrian auction house.
Experts have debated the identity of the sitter, although she is known to have belonged to the Lieser family, affluent Jewish industrialists. Discovered partially finished in Klimt’s studio upon his death in 1918, the painting was subsequently gifted to the Lieser family. The sitter is speculated to be one of the two daughters of Henriette Lieser: either Helene, who pursued a career in economics, or Annie, who gained fame as a dancer. Henriette Lieser was a major patron of the avant-garde in Vienna. She was deported by the Nazis and died at Auschwitz in 1943, says the house.
