Lost Klimt painting on the block in Austria after London record
A GUSTAV KLIMT painting thought to have been lost for almost a century will be put on the auction block in Vienna, months after another work by the avant-garde artist set a record in London.
The assessed value of Portrait of Fr盲ulein Lieser is 鈧30 million to 鈧50 million ($32.7 million to $54.5 million), according to the Kinsky auction house, which will accept bids on April 24 in the Austrian capital.
The sale follows the record $108 million paid for Klimt鈥檚 Lady with a Fan by Sotheby鈥檚 in June, the most valuable artwork to sell at auction in Europe.
鈥淚t鈥檚 incredibly well preserved, in almost unblemished original condition,鈥 said Claudia M枚rth-Gasser, head of the modern art department at Kinsky, who verified the work and presented it Thursday at a press conference in Vienna. 鈥淚t鈥檚 been well handled for more than a century.鈥
The painting was last seen in 1925 at an exhibit in Vienna, before disappearing. The current owners 鈥 whom Kinsky declined to identify 鈥 have legally possessed the work since the 1960s, according to Kinsky鈥檚 Ernst Ploil, who investigated the ownership and provenance of the work.
While there鈥檚 a 鈥渉ole in the ownership record,鈥 the painting isn鈥檛 claimed in any of the restitution lists filed by families who suffered property expropriation under the Nazis, Mr. Ploil said. 鈥淭here鈥檚 been no attempt to find or exert ownership over the painting,鈥 he added.
Potential bidders will be able to view the painting over the next several months in Germany, Hong Kong, Switzerland and the UK. One of the final works created by Klimt before his death in 1918, no Central European painting of 鈥渆ven approximate importance鈥 has been available for decades, according to the auction house. 鈥 Bloomberg
