Klimt breaks records at Sotheby's London

 

 - The "Lady with a Fan" becomes the highest bid in Europe.

Klimt once again holds the world record for an auction; he had already sent bids soaring last year with his "Portrait of Adèle Bloch-Bauer II" (1912), which sold for €95.3 million at Christie's New York.

Yesterday at 5.30pm, the "Lady with a Fan" or "Dame mit Fächer", one of the last paintings by Gustave Klimt (1862-1918) sold for £74 million, or more than €86 million.

The estimate given by the expert was £65 million, well below the price realised.

Sotheby's had predicted that this painting would be the centrepiece of the sale. Sotheby's had billed it as "not only the star of the summer auction season in London, but also one of the finest and most valuable ever offered in Europe".

And it was a surprise to see the bids soar, during the most intense ten minutes of the sale, to become the second highest price for a portrait of any era and any category ever sold at auction in Europe.

                                           (Albane Korb, London, 28 June 2023)