The tension in the Kinsky auction house in Vienna was noticeable yesterday. The auction of the “Portrait of Fräulein Lieser” by Gustav Klimt (1862-1918) started at 5:31 p.m. The work was considered lost for decades. It was only in January that the auction house presented the picture with an estimated value of up to 50 million euros; auction proceeds were expected to reach up to 70 million euros.
But the sensation didn’t happen. After auctioneer Michael Kovacek called the first bid at 28 million, only one more followed until one person in the room bid 30 million. Then there was silence. At 5:33 p.m. the picture was sold for 35 million – including premium. It’s going to a private collection in Hong Kong, Rosaline Wong’s HomeArt. It is surprising that there was so little interest among bidders. In 2022, Gustav Klimt’s “Buchenwald” (Birkenwald) was sold at an auction in London for almost 105 million euros.
Art crime thriller until the end
The art crime story surrounding the picture remained exciting until the last minute. As the Süddeutsche Zeitung (SZ) reported yesterday, shortly before the auction, a previously unknown man from Munich who was entitled to inherit reported to the Federal Monuments Office and requested that the export license not be granted.
The picture has only been incompletely researched. Gustav Klimt began work in 1917 but was unable to complete it until his death in 1918. It was sold unfinished to the client. It is not clear who that was: the industrialist Adolf Lieser or his sister-in-law Henriette Lieser? That’s why no one knows who is depicted in the picture: Adolf’s daughter Margarethe Constance? Or one of Henriette’s daughters, Helene or Annie?
There are also gaps in provenance research. The whereabouts of the picture between 1925 and the 1960s are unclear. From then on it is said to have been passed down through generations. Most recently it hung in a villa near Vienna. The current owners inherited the painting two years ago.
Therefore, the proceeds are divided among several possible legal successors based on an agreement based on the so-called “Washington Principles”. This means that all possible claims have been clarified, the auction house said in advance. An export permit had previously been issued by the Federal Monuments Office. According to SZ, the auction house only wants to deal with the new heir after the auction. The monument office explained that all claims must be clarified before export.
