Record-breaking Klimt, the last portrait sold for 86 million euros. The “Lady with a fan” wins the European record at Sotheby’s auction

LONDON. In an exciting auction at Sotheby’s in London, marked by a succession of bids between the New Bond Street office and telephone bidders, a new sales record for a work of art in Europe was set tonight. Gustav Klimt’s masterpiece entitled ‘Lady with a fan’ (Dame mit Facher), his last portrait, was in fact sold for 74 million pounds (86 million euros) and a buyer in the hall took it, as pointed out the same auction house. In dollars, the quotation exceeds 94 million. The ‘Lady with a fan’ by the famous Austrian symbolist painter represents the extreme masterpiece created by Klimt: it was begun in 1917 and was still on the easel of his studio when the artist died unexpectedly in February 1918 at the height of his artistic splendor in 55 years of age. The identity of the woman portrayed remains unknown. According to Helena Newman, Sotheby’s world manager for Impressionist and Modern Art, this painting is something different and exceptional compared to the extraordinary ensemble of Klimt’s opus: the result of “a technical tour de force full of experiments that go beyond the limits, as well as a heartfelt ode to absolute beauty”. The importance of the portrait can also be seen in the new sales record set today. The maximum cost auctioned in Europe for a work of art had so far been reached with the 65 million pounds – almost ten million less than Klimt – paid for ‘Walking Man I’ (from the series of sculptures dedicated to ‘Walking Man’) by Alberto Giacometti, also sold at Sotheby’s in 2010. While ‘L’Empire des Lumieres’ by Rene Magritte recently fetched £59.4 million at the same auction house. However, the world record recorded in America for the ‘Salvator Mundi’ attributed to Leonardo da Vinci, beaten by Christie’s in New York in November 2017 for a good 400 million dollars (over 450 with auction rights) remains a long way off. We must also remember the rarity of Klimt’s portraits which are difficult to find on the market. Sotheby’s has declared that the only one considered by critics to be of a similar level to the ‘Lady with a fan’ – the ‘Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer II’, from 1912 – had sold for 87.9 million dollars at Christie’s in New York in 2006; although there are rumors that two other portraits by the Austrian artist have been privately purchased for more than $100 million each. Among the other highlights of today’s auction are a ‘Night Interior’ by Lucien Freud, valued on the eve of between 8 and 12 million pounds; or even a sculpture by Giacometti, ‘Bust of Diego’, quoted between 4 and 6 million.