Gustav Klimt’s Final Portrait Sells For A Record $108.4 Million In London

Wearing her signature fitted silhouette in a striking lime green against a vivid purple background, Sotheby’s Chairman in Europe and Worldwide Head of Impressionist and Modern Art Helena Newman elegantly conducted the June 27th Modern and Contemporary auction in London.

All eyes were on “the star lot,” Dame mit Fächer (Lady with a Fan) by Gustav Klimt, the last portrait made before his death in 1918. It was even on his easel when he passed. Still privately owned, it was freely on view in London to the public for just one week before the sale.

It jumped above the estimate of £65 million ($80 million) within seconds, catching wind with Newman’s trained yet composed enthusiasm.

“Try one more. Give us one more, please,” she said again and again, coaxing the price up by the millions.

“You’re sure? You’re absolutely sure?” she asked, turning the price up to £73.5 million…then £74.

“The hammer’s up and I will sell it!” she concluded.

There it was, the record. Closing at £74 million before the buyer’s premium.

Katya Kazakina reported the winner to be Hong Kong art advisor Patti Wong. Wong announced her retirement from Sotheby’s in December 2022 after 30 years, partnering with a London art advisory firm, “to expand global reach”.

Sotheby’s reports that this is one of the highest value works to ever come up for auction in Europe, comparing it against other records. This sale comes on the coattails of the New York sale of ‘Insel im Attersee,’ which had a low estimate of $45 million and sold for $53.2 million after the buyer’s premium was added.

Unlike the commissions of Vienna’s highest society ladies, this Dame was rendered in spontaneity and liveliness that suggested a sense of the carefree, an allusion to a more Impressionistic world gaining traction in France. The specialists compare this work to the iconic Woman in Gold (portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer I), perhaps Klimt’s best-known masterpiece, replete with gold leaf. Klimt made two portraits of Adele; the latter is believed to be in a Hong Kong collection and has been touring Europe this year, most recently at the National Gallery in London.

Dame mit Fächer is believed to be strongly influenced by Chinese motifs. Sotheby’s cites inclusions of the phoenix (symbol of immortality and rebirth, good fortune and fidelity) and lotus blossoms (symbols of love, happy marriage and/or purity), with a flatness more like ukiyo-e, Japanese woodblock prints which were also known to have inspired Vincent van Gogh’s Sunflowers, acquired by the Yasuda Fire Company in 1987. The Dame mit Fächer lot description was translated into Chinese.

The Modern & Contemporary Evening Auction was centered on portraiture, in tandem with ongoing exhibitions throughout London. Klimt portraits can be found at Sotheby’s New Bond Street galleries, while Hermine Gallia of 1904 and the Adele are on view at ‘After Impressionism’ at the National Gallery.