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The picture “Lady with a fan” by the Austrian painter Gustav Klimt was auctioned in London for CHF 97 million, breaking several records at the same time.
As the auction house Sotheby’s announced, never before has a work of art paid so much at an auction in Europe as now for Gustav Klimt’s “Lady with a Fan”: It went under the hammer for a good 85 million pounds, the equivalent of 97 million francs.
The previous record in Europe was 65 million pounds (74 million Swiss francs) for the sculpture “L’homme qui marche I” by Swiss artist Alberto Giacometti, which was auctioned in London at Sotheby’s in 2010.
Legend:
Grace has its price: “Lady with a fan” by Gustav Klimt, the co-founder of the Vienna Secession, changes hands for almost 100 million.
Imago / agefotostock / Artepics
At the same time, it is also the highest bid for which a Klimt painting has ever come under the hammer. The record so far was 104.6 million US dollars (currently 93.5 million Swiss francs) for Klimt’s painting “Birch Forest”.
“Ten-minute bidding battle”
“Lady with a fan” was auctioned on behalf of an art collector from Hong Kong during a “ten-minute bidding battle”, it said in the Sotheby’s announcement. The estimate of the equivalent of CHF 73.5 million was exceeded by far.
Legend:
The previous record holder in Europe was the sculpture “L’homme qui marche I” by the Swiss artist Alberto Giacometti. In 2010, it brought in CHF 74 million.
Getty Images/Peter Macdiarmid
The increase in value is enormous: the painting “Lady with a Fan” last changed hands at Sotheby’s in New York in 1994 for 11.6 million US dollars (today around 10.4 million Swiss francs).
Lady with fan but no name
Gustav Klimt (1862–1918) was the most famous representative of the Vienna Secession. Today only a few of his paintings are privately owned. According to Sotheby’s, when Klimt died there were still two works in his Vienna studio, “Lady with a Fan” was one of them.
Legend:
Pioneer of modernity – and the high prices? Gustav Klimt (1862–1918), co-founder of the Vienna Secession
Imago / Album / Fine Art Images
Klimt died of a stroke at the age of 55. The identity of the “lady with a fan” is unknown, but it was not a commissioned work. A strong Asian influence is evident – Klimt was a lover of Japanese and Chinese art.