Watch the Record-Breaking Auction of This Gustav Klimt Portrait, Which Just Became the Second Most Expensive Painting Ever Sold

Gustav Klimt's "Portrait of Elisabeth Lederer" sold at Sotheby's for $236.4 million on November 20, 2025, becoming the most expensive modern artwork ever auctioned and the second most expensive painting overall. The life-size oil painting, created between 1914 and 1916, depicts the 20-year-old daughter of prominent Jewish art collectors. After a 20-minute bidding war starting at $130 million, an anonymous telephone bidder won the work, which had been owned by cosmetics heir Leonard Lauder until his death in June 2025.

The sale matters because it sets a new auction record for Klimt and for Sotheby's 281-year history, surpassing Pablo Picasso's "Les Femmes d'Alger (Version O)" which sold for $179.4 million in 2015. Beyond its financial significance, the portrait carries a powerful Holocaust survival story: its Jewish subject Elisabeth Lederer used the painting as evidence to convince Nazis that Klimt was her father, saving her life. The work's journey from Nazi confiscation to post-war restitution to a major auction underscores ongoing conversations about art, identity, and historical trauma in the market.