An artwork by Gustav Klimt, which played a role in saving the life of its Jewish subject during the Holocaust, was sold at an auction in New York City for $236.4 million US, including fees, setting a new record for a modern art piece.
The painting, known as Portrait of Elisabeth Lederer, was auctioned at Sotheby’s after a competitive 20-minute bidding session, making it the most expensive artwork ever sold by the fine art broker globally. However, the most eye-catching item of the event was a fully functional solid gold toilet that fetched $12.1 million.
This particular Klimt portrait is one of only two full-length portraits by the Austrian artist that are privately owned and survived the Second World War undamaged.
Created over a span of three years from 1914 to 1916, the painting features the daughter of a prominent Vienna family dressed in an emperor’s cloak from East Asia. This masterpiece was safeguarded from destruction when other Klimt paintings perished in a fire at an Austrian castle.
The vibrant portrait showcases the opulent lifestyle of the Lederer family before Austria was annexed by Nazi Germany in 1938. During the looting of the Lederer art collection by the Nazis, only the family portraits, including this one, were left behind as they were deemed “too Jewish” to be of value for theft, as per the National Gallery of Canada, where the artwork was previously exhibited.
In a bid to protect herself, Elisabeth Lederer fabricated a story claiming that Klimt, who was not Jewish and passed away in 1918, was her father. Her tale was supported by the detailed work Klimt put into painting her portrait over the years.
With the assistance of her former brother-in-law, a senior Nazi official, she persuaded the Nazis to issue a document stating that she was a descendant of Klimt.
The painting was part of a collection owned by Leonard A. Lauder, a billionaire and heir to The Estée Lauder Companies, who passed away earlier this year.
Sotheby’s has not disclosed the identity of the buyer of the portrait. This sale surpassed the previous record for a 20th-century artwork set by an Andy Warhol portrait of Marilyn Monroe, which sold for $195 million in 2022.
Golden Toilet Sells for $12.1M
At the same auction, a fully functional solid gold toilet, designed as a satire on extreme wealth, was purchased for $12.1 million US.
The 101-kilogram, 18-karat gold toilet created by Maurizio Cattelan, the provocative Italian artist renowned for unconventional artworks like attaching a banana to a wall, had an initial bidding price of approximately $10 million US.
Cattelan described the piece, named America, as a commentary on excessive affluence.
He once stated, “Whatever you eat, whether an expensive lunch or a cheap hot dog, the end result is the same in the toilet.”
Sotheby’s characterized the toilet as a sharp critique on the intersection of artistic creation and commercial value.
Not the Only Cattelan-Made Toilet
This gold toilet, previously owned by an undisclosed collector, is not the only one designed by Cattelan.
Another similar toilet was exhibited in 2016 at New York’s Guggenheim Museum, which notably offered to lend it to U.S. President Donald Trump when he requested to borrow a Van Gogh painting.
Subsequently, the toilet was stolen while on display at Blenheim Palace in England, the birthplace of Winston Churchill.
Although two individuals were convicted in connection with the theft of
