KEY POINTS
- Klimt's Portrait of Elisabeth Lederer sold for $236.4 million (£179.91 million) a new modern-art auction record. The sale was part of the highly anticipated auction of Leonard Lauder's private collection.
- The full-length portrait is one of only two Klimt works of its kind still in private hands.
- Two other Klimt paintings also achieved major results, selling for $86 million (£65.45 million) and $68 million (£51.75 million).
Gustav Klimt has shattered art-market history once again. The Austrian modernist's Portrait of Elisabeth Lederer sold for an extraordinary $236.4 million (£179.91 million) at Sotheby's on Tuesday night, setting a new record as the most expensive modern artwork ever sold at auction. The staggering figure also makes it the second-most-valuable artwork ever to cross an auction block.
