A painting by the acclaimed Austrian artist Gustav Klimt that was believed to be lost for nearly a century is headed for auction in Vienna, where it is estimated to sell for up to €50 million ($53 million), though experts predict it could go for much more.
The unfinished work, titled “Portrait of Fraulein Lieser,” depicts a young woman in Klimt’s iconic style but her identity remains uncertain. Art historians believe she may be either Margarethe Constance Lieser, daughter of industrialist Adolf Lieser, or one of the two daughters of Adolf’s brother Justus and his wife Henriette, who was a prominent patron of modern art before perishing in Auschwitz during the Holocaust.
The fate of the 1917 painting after 1925 is shrouded in mystery. The im Kinsky auction house in Vienna states that a legal predecessor acquired it in the 1960s, and it passed through three inheritances to the current anonymous Austrian owners putting it up for sale.
The auction is proceeding based on the Washington Principles for returning Nazi-looted artworks to rightful owners. A representative from Im Kinsky told BBC that it has reached “a fair and just solution” to sell the piece on behalf of both the current owners and legal successors of the Lieser families.
However, the head of Austria’s Jewish Community has called for further independent research, citing “many unanswered questions” around the painting’s provenance and wartime journey before it can be considered thoroughly resolved.
Regardless of the lingering mysteries, the rediscovered Gustav Klimt work is expected to attract enormous interest and high bids when it hits the auction block, continuing the artist’s run of record-shattering sales. Just last year, his “Lady with a Fan” sold for around $92 million, setting the European auction record.
