Results for: Washington Principles

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.

A portrait by renowned Austrian modernist artist Gustav Klimt, known for its vibrant colors and unfinished sections, has been sold at auction in Vienna for 30 million euros ($32 million). The ‘Portrait of Fräulein Lieser’, believed to be one of Klimt’s last works, depicts a young woman and was started in 1917, a year before the artist’s death. Due to uncertainties surrounding its provenance during the Nazi era, the current owners and heirs of the Lieser family agreed to proceed with the sale under the Washington Principles, which provide guidance on Nazi-confiscated art restitution.