Sotheby's Sells Klimt Portrait for US$236.4 Million as November Auctions Begin
Sotheby's has sold Gustav Klimt's Portrait of Elisabeth Lederer for US$236.4 million, according to ArtNews. The Austrian painter worked on the portrait between 1914 and 1916.
The sale is part of a busy stretch for the big auction houses, the companies that sell art to the highest bidder. Sales in May topped US$2.5 billion across Christie's, Sotheby's and Phillips. That is roughly double the US$1.3 billion the same three houses took in during May 2025, ArtNews reported.
Much of the November focus is on who is selling. A consignor is the owner who sends a work to auction, and a lot is a single item offered for sale. Some owners stay anonymous.
At Christie's 20th Century Evening Sale, 40 of the 79 lots have a named consignor. Seven lots carrying the "Heroes & Lovers" label were consigned by the artist Jeff Koons. At Christie's 21st Century Evening Sale, 35 of the 58 lots have a named consignor.
Sotheby's has its own split. At The Now and Contemporary Evening Auction, 22 of the 53 lots have a named consignor. At the Modern Evening Auction, 13 of the 50 lots do. Eleven of those Modern lots come from one private American collection presented under the name "Shaping Modernity."
For scale, the 2022 sale of the collection of the late Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen totalled US$1.5 billion, according to the same ArtNews report.
Each of these sales is a chance for the owners to sell, for buyers to bid and for the auction houses to take a commission. The auctioneer's closing bid, known as the hammer price, is only part of the total a buyer pays once fees are added.
The US$236.4 million Klimt is the largest single figure in this round of reporting, and the consignor lists show how many works are changing hands from private owners this season.
