Mysterious Klimt painting is auctioned in Austria for 30 million euros | World and Science

Published 04/24/2024 21:31

Gustav Klimt’s “Portrait of Miss Lieser”, a lost painting that recently reappeared, was sold this Wednesday (24) in Vienna for 30 million euros (R$165 million), a record for Austria, despite doubts that revolve around their origin.

Estimated at between 30 and 50 million euros (between R$165 million and R$275 million), it was sold to a private collection in Hong Kong, HomeArt, at the lower end of the im Kinsky auction house’s estimated range, far from 86 million euros (R$474 million, at current prices) achieved in June 2023 in London for another painting by the artist.

The buyer promised to make the work available to the Belvedere museum in Vienna, which displays Klimt’s famous “Kiss”, for three months.

The director of the im Kinsy auction house, Ernst Ploil, said he was “disappointed” by the final price (35 million euros – 193 million reais – with expenses) and blamed the “several critical press articles” that may have deterred potential buyers.

There was only one possible buyer on the auction block, he lamented, as the others withdrew because of doubts surrounding the origin of the painting, commissioned by a wealthy Jewish family and created in 1917 by Klimt shortly before his death.

Even so, Claudia Mörth Gasser, responsible for the modern art section, pointed out that it was a notable event because “a comparable work” had never been offered in Klimt’s home country.

“No one expected a painting of this importance, missing for 100 years, to resurface,” he said. The previous Austrian record was 7 million euros (R$38.5 million at current prices) for a flamenco painting sold in 2010.

Who is the protagonist?

This unsigned portrait has caused a sensation, especially because it is very well preserved and has never left Austria.

Since its unveiling in January, crowds have attended exhibitions in Switzerland, Germany, the United Kingdom and Hong Kong to admire it.

The painting, begun in 1917 and not completed, represents a young brunette with precise features, with a large cape richly decorated with flowers, on a bright red background.

The painter died the following year, and the mystery, much debated in the specialized press, continues regarding the model’s identity.

Who is this young Viennese woman from the haute bourgeoisie who visited the studio of the venerated genius of her time nine times?

It is known that he was part of the Lieser family, a great Jewish industrial dynasty and patron of the artistic avant-garde.

Is she one of two daughters, named Helene and Annie, of Henriette (Lilly) Lieser, a wealthy divorcee and pioneer of female emancipation? Or his brother-in-law Adolf’s daughter, Margarethe, as stated in the first complete catalog of Klimt’s works, produced in the 1960s?

Reappeared in the possession of a Nazi merchant

The only known photograph of the painting, probably taken in 1925 at an exhibition, suggests that, in that year, it belonged to Lilly Lieser.

According to the newspaper Der Standard, based on correspondence archived in an Austrian museum, she may have entrusted the work to one of her employees before she died.

The painting resurfaced in the possession of a Nazi merchant. It was later inherited by his daughter and, later, by distant relatives.

For Casa im Kinsky, which specializes in restitution procedures, this is “one hypothesis among others”.

After the war, the painting was never claimed, unlike other possessions, by one of Lieser’s three surviving descendants.

According to Mörth Gasser, the owners, who wish to remain anonymous, contacted his company two years ago to request legal advice.

Im Kinsky reported that the current beneficiaries of both sides of the Lieser family live in the United States. Some traveled to see the painting and then signed a contract with the owners, thus removing an obstacle to its sale.

No information was leaked about the terms of this out-of-court settlement, and some experts criticized this procedure as too fast.

The painting was not exhibited in the United States for fear that it could be confiscated by the courts in the event of a dispute, as is the norm for works suspected of being the result of estates.