Gustav Klimt’s long-lost masterpiece, ‘Portrait of Miss Lieser,’ has emerged from obscurity and sold for €30 million at an auction in Vienna. Once presumed missing, the unfinished work depicts a young woman and was inherited by its current owners two years ago. Despite its absence from the public eye, the painting’s discovery marks a significant moment in art history.
A long-lost portrait by Gustav Klimt titled “Portrait of Fraulein Lieser” was sold at auction in Vienna for €30 million (US$32 million) on Wednesday, breaking the record for the highest art auction sale in Austria. The painting, one of Klimt’s final works from 1917, was purchased by an unidentified bidder from Hong Kong. The auction was conducted on behalf of the current owners, Austrian private citizens, and the legal heirs of Adolf and Henriette Lieser, who may have commissioned the work. The identity of the model remains uncertain, but it is believed to be a member of the Lieser family. After Klimt’s untimely death in 1918, the unfinished portrait was given to the family who had commissioned it. The Jewish Lieser family was forced to flee Austria after 1930, losing most of their belongings. The painting’s whereabouts between 1925 and the 1960s, including during the Nazi dictatorship, are unclear.
Gustav Klimt’s ‘Portrait of Fräulein Lieser’ sold at auction in Vienna for 30 million euros ($32 million), making it one of the artist’s last major works. The painting had been presumed lost for decades and was auctioned on behalf of its current owners, Austrian private citizens, and the heirs of Adolf and Henriette Lieser. It is unclear which member of the Lieser family commissioned the work, but it was believed to have been painted in 1917, a year before Klimt’s death. The fate of the painting between 1925 and the 1960s, a period that included the Nazi era, remains uncertain. Currently, there is no evidence of Nazi confiscation, but the Washington Principles were employed to address potential restitution issues related to Nazi-confiscated art.
