The sale of a $32 million portrait by Gustav Klimt has fallen by way of, according to the Austrian paper Der Standard. The portray’s nameless purchaser in Hong Kong withdrew from the sale final month after a non-public restitution settlement didn’t go forward.
In 2024, Klimt’s Portrait of Fräulein Lieser (1917) offered for €30 million, €35 million with charges, ($32.15 million, $37.51 million with charges), on the decrease aspect of its presale estimate of €30 to €50 million. The sale was nonetheless a report for Austria, the place the public sale befell at im Kinsky in Vienna.
Der Standard reported the nameless purchaser was represented on the public sale by Patti Wong & Associates (Hong Kong).
The portray was previously lost for nearly 100 years, and was solely recognized from a black-and-white picture taken in 1925. Gaps in its provenance, particularly round World Battle II, resulted within the im Kinsky public sale home working to rearrange a settlement between the consignor, a non-public Austrian citizen, and the heirs of the Lieser family for a share of the sale.
According to Artnet News, the consignor of Portrait of Fräulein Lieser inherited the portray in 2022. Nonetheless, the many years between 1925, when the black-and white {photograph} confirmed the paintings in possession of the Lieser household, and 1961, when Portrait of Fräulein Lieser was recorded within the possession of the consignor’s household had been unclear.
It’s value noting this era consists of the Anschluss, when Austria was annexed by Nazi Germany between 1938 and 1945. The Nazis closely persecuted Austria’s Jewish inhabitants and a whole bunch of 1000’s of individuals had been pressured to to migrate.
Dispute over the identification of the sitter of Portrait of Fräulein Lieser, in addition to a number of claimants to possession of the portray earlier than and after its sale led to the nameless purchaser trying to barter indemnification settlements with all recognized heirs of Adolf and Henriette Lieser for 60 p.c of the sale proceeds.
Whereas virtually all of those agreements between the client and the varied heirs had been efficiently obtained, one finally refused to signal a deal, ensuing within the portray’s sale failing, according to Der Standard,
Der Customary additionally estimated that the price to the im Kinsky public sale home for the failed sale “had been more likely to quantity to at the very least” €1.5 million ($1.7 million).
