"Portrait of Mrs. Lieser" by Austrian modernist artist Gustav Klimt, which was thought to have been missing for nearly 100 years, was auctioned at the Vienna-based im Kinsky Auction House.
The painting found a buyer for 32 million dollars after being priced between 32 and 53 million dollars. The identity of the buyer was not shared with the public. It was stated that Klimt started to paint the painting in 1917, one year before his death. It is thought that the painting was gifted to the Lieser family between 1918 and 1925. It is estimated that the portrait belonged to one of the daughters of the family, who had a high status in Viennese society at the time.
The painting was purchased by a legal predecessor of the consignor in the 1960s and passed to the current owner through three successive inheritances, Im Kinsky said, adding that the painting was exhibited only once in 1926 and has not been on public display since then.
The painting was put up for sale on behalf of its current owners in accordance with the Washington Principles, which were established to address the ongoing problems of identification and restitution of artworks seized during the Nazi era in Germany.
