The portrait depicts a young woman from the wealthy Jewish Lieser family. Klimt painted the painting in 1917, when he was already a celebrated painter. The artist died a year later, the portrait remained unfinished. In 1918 it came into the possession of Henriette Lieser, who was probably the aunt of the woman in the painting.
Until the painting surfaced a few months ago, there was only a black and white photo of the canvas, from 1925. From that year on, the painting disappeared from the radar. It now appears to have come into the possession of an Austrian family in the 1960s. One of the heirs brought it to the Viennese auction house Im Kinsky a few months ago.
Controversial
The sale was controversial, because it is not known where the portrait was in the period between 1925 and the 1960s. Henriette Lieser died in Auschwitz during the Holocaust, but according to the auction house there is insufficient evidence to state that the Nazis stole it.
Lieser’s relatives did not try to reclaim the painting after the war. The proceeds of the auction will be divided between the owners of the painting and the heirs of the Lieser family. Im Kinsky does not want to reveal exactly how the money will be distributed.
To Hong Kong
The value of the canvas, which is 140 cm high and 80 cm wide, was estimated by auction house Im Kinsky between 30 and 50 million euros. The painting was ultimately sold on Wednesday for 30 million to an unknown buyer in Hong Kong. This is a significantly lower amount than what was in July 2023 Lady with a fanr has been laid down. This painting by Klimt, known as the last one he completed, went under the hammer at Sotheby’s auction house in London for 108 million euros.
It is not certain who the woman on the canvas is. Klimt experts suspect that it is Adolf Lieser’s daughter, Margarethe Constance Lieser. The auction house claims it could also be Helene Lieser, one of the daughters of Adolf’s brother Justus and his wife Henriette. An ‘aging study’ by Im Kinsky, carried out with the help of AI, shows that the woman on the canvas also strongly resembles the economist Helene Lieser, who died in 1962.
