A Ghost Returns: The $150 Million Klimt Portrait That Survived War and Obscurity
For decades, she held a place of quiet honor in a Manhattan apartment, a silent witness to lunches and conversations. She is a woman in a robe of fiery orange and gold, her gaze both steady and distant, surrounded by a shimmering dream of phoenixes and cherry blossoms. This is Gustav Klimt’s “Portrait of Elisabeth Lederer,” a monumental masterpiece that has lived a life as dramatic as the art that depicts it.
Next week, this painting is expected to become one of the most expensive artworks ever sold. It could fetch over $150 million at a Sotheby’s auction, shattering the artist’s previous record. But the story behind this portrait—of its subject, its narrow escape from destruction, and its decades in the private collection of the late Estée Lauder heir, Leonard A. Lauder—is worth far more than its staggering price tag.
A Jewel in a Fifth Avenue Home
Completed in 1916, just two years before Klimt’s death, the portrait depicts Elisabeth Lederer, the young daughter of the artist’s wealthiest patrons. For years, it was the crown jewel of Leonard Lauder’s personal collection, first in his living room and later in his dining room.
According to art historian Emily Braun, who worked as Lauder’s advisor for nearly 40 years, the painting was part of his daily life. “Whenever he was home, he always had lunch at a small round table right next to the painting,” Braun remembered. While millions of visitors to the nearby Metropolitan Museum of Art could see Klimt’s portrait of Elisabeth’s mother, Serena, only a privileged few ever saw Elisabeth’s face in her own home.
The two portraits tell a story of an artist’s evolution. Serena’s painting is ethereal and delicate, while Elisabeth’s is a bold, lush tapestry. Yet both subjects share the same intense, dark eyes. “You’ll see that Klimt is either mesmerized by them, or is smart enough a painter to know to draw out this incredible coal blackness,” Braun noted.
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A Story Marked by Fire and Lies
The portrait’s survival is a miracle. The Lederer family was Jewish, and their vast art collection was looted by the Nazis during World War II. Many of their Klimt paintings were stored in Immendorf Castle, which was destroyed in a fire at the war’s end. The family portraits, however, were separated from the rest and spared.
Elisabeth Lederer’s own life was filled with tragedy. As fascism rose, she converted to Protestantism and married a baron, but he divorced her just before World War II—the same year their young son died. Her family fled Vienna, but Elisabeth stayed behind.
Vulnerable and alone, she crafted a desperate story for protection. She began claiming that Gustav Klimt, a close family friend and her childhood drawing teacher, was her real father.“She was somewhat shielded by this invented story of having a half-Christian, half-Klimt parentage — a deception her mother helped create,” Braun explained. Klimt’s reputation for fathering children out of wedlock made the story strangely believable. Elisabeth died in Vienna at age 50, having lost everything.
Reclaiming a Legacy
The portrait was eventually returned to Elisabeth’s brother after the war and was later acquired by Lauder in 1985. When he acquired the painting, it still carried the name of the husband who had left her behind — “Portrait of Baroness Elisabeth Bachofen-Echt.”
Braun advised Lauder to change the title. “I said to Leonard, ‘It’s not right.’ This was commissioned while she was single… and her husband treated her so badly—why are we calling it by this title?” she recalled. They reverted to its original name, reclaiming Elisabeth’s identity not as a baroness, but as herself.
The painting is a masterwork from the end of Klimt’s career, showing his deep fascination with East Asian art. The Chinese dragon robe she wears is a symbol of power, and the motifs surrounding her were likely inspired by pieces from Klimt’s own collection. It is said the artist was so attached to the work, which took years to complete, that he did not want to part with it.
Now, this painting that survived war, lies, and oblivion will step into the global spotlight once more, not just as a record-breaking work of art, but as a silent testament to a life of immense beauty and profound loss.
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