The painting “Portrait of Miss Lieser” by the Austrian modernist artist Gustav Klimt, which was thought to have been lost for nearly 100 years in Vienna, the capital of Austria, was put up for auction at the Vienna-based im Kinsky Auction House. The painting was sold for $32 million after being estimated at $32 to $53 million. The identity of the buyer was not shared with the public.
It was stated that Klimt started painting the painting in question in 1917, a year before his death. It is thought that the painting was gifted to the Lieser family between 1918 and 1925. It is estimated that the portrait belongs to one of the daughters of the family, which had a high status in Vienna society at that time.
Im Kinsky stated that the painting was purchased by a legal predecessor of the consignor in the 1960s and passed to its current owner through three successive inheritances, adding that the painting was exhibited only once in 1926 and has not been exhibited in a public place since then.
The painting was offered for sale on behalf of its current owners in accordance with the Washington Principles, which were created to address ongoing identification and return issues related to artworks seized during the Nazi era in Germany.
