A mysterious Gustav Klimt painting titled Portrait of Fräulein Lieser (1917) sold for approximately $32.15 million, or $37.51 million with fees, at the Im Kinsky auction house in Vienna last week. The painting was left unsigned and partially unfinished in Klimt’s studio when he died in 1918. Before fees, it had a pre-sale estimate of between $32 million and $53 million.

According to the New York Times, the highly anticipated lot was sold to Patti Wong, founder of Hong Kong art advisory Patti Wong Associates, who was bidding on behalf of an Asia-based client.

Previously only known from a black-and-white photo—and considered lost for around a century—the piece resurfaced last year. “The rediscovery of this portrait of a woman, one of the most beautiful portraits of Klimt’s final period of creativity, is a sensation,” Im Kinsky said in a statement. “While the picture is documented in Klimt catalog raisonnées, it was only known to art historians as a black and white photograph.”

Shrouded in mystery, with many gaps in its provenance—particularly from the period between 1925 and 1960—the work features an elegant young woman draped in a bright blue cloak adorned with colorful flowers, set against a vibrant orange background. In a sales catalog, the auction house said it had “not been able to clarify the precise provenance of the painting” since 1925, and the identity of the seller was not shared.

Thought by art historians to be Margarethe Constance Lieser, the daughter of Adolf Lieser, more recent research reveals it could be either Helene Lieser or Annie Lieser, one of the daughters of Adolf’s brother Justus Lieser and Henriette Amalie “Lilly” Lieser-Landau. While there is no evidence that the work was looted during Nazi rule, part of the proceeds of the painting will go to the legal descendants of the Lieser family, following the Washington Principles on Nazi-Confiscated Art, a rule established in 1998. The artist’s current auction record of $109 million was achieved last June, at Sotheby’s London, for Lady with a Fan (1917–18).
Sayart / Amia Nguyen, amyngwyen13@gmail.com