Sotheby's is offering Gustav Klimt's "Portrait of Elisabeth Lederer" (1914-1916) from the estate of the late collector and philanthropist Leonard Lauder with an asking price exceeding $150 million. The consignment also includes two Attersee landscapes valued at over $70 million and $80 million respectively, potentially generating over $300 million from just three lots. This sale follows Ronald Lauder's record-setting $135 million private purchase of Klimt's "Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer I" in 2006, and is guaranteed to set a new auction record for the artist, surpassing the current $108.8 million benchmark.
This sale matters because it represents a major recalibration of the Klimt market, with prices expected to spike nearly 40% in just two years. The Lauder brothers—Ronald and Leonard—were titans of the American art world whose collecting activities shaped museum collections and market dynamics for decades. Leonard's prescient 1985 acquisition of the Lederer portrait, decades before his brother's famous purchase, underscores the family's outsized influence. The sale also highlights the enduring demand for rare, museum-quality early 20th-century masterpieces, with Sotheby's chairman noting that only five commissioned Klimt portraits exist from 1912-1918, most of which are already in museums.