Klimt’s mysterious work auctioned after 100 years lost

He Portrait of Fräulein Lieser It is one of the last rediscovered masterpieces of the Austrian painter Gustav Klimt. This painting, considered lost for 100 years, is auctioned on April 24 at the auction house Im Kinsky from Vienna after a long presentation abroad.

Klimt’s works, known portraits of women of the upper bourgeoisie, are highly prized in the international art market due to their rarity, value and artistic range, a fame fueled by the mystery surrounding some of these paintings. In this case, the portrait of the Austrian master It has been kept hidden in a private collection in Austria.

According to the gallery Im Kinskythe rediscovery of the portrait has captured the attention of numerous art agents as it is considered one of the most beautiful paintings belonging to the last creative period of the painter. Thanks to the renowned work of this Viennese auction house around works of art seized during the Nazi erayou can appreciate for the first time the vividness of the colors of the portrait.

As is common in many of his works, the model identity of Klimt, Miss Lieser, is currently unclear. The Lieser family He was part of Viennese high society, where Klimt found his potential patrons and clients. According to the same Im Kinskysome of the most recent studies suggest that it could be Margarethe Constance Lieser, the eighteen-year-old daughter of industrial magnate Adolf Lieser. Although there are also indications that she, the art lover Lilly Lieser commissioned Klimt to paint a portrait of one of his two daughters.

Until now, experts only knew of the existence of this enigmatic painting for a black and white photograph preserved in the Austrian National Library. The 1925 snapshot, which still placed the work in the possession of the Lieser family, is attributed to Otto Kallir-Nirenstein, who took it on the occasion of the exhibition of Klimt at the Neue Galerie in Vienna. After this date, the history of the portrait is unclear, although the only certainty is that it was acquired by a legal predecessor of the sponsor in the 1960s, from which it passed into the hands of the current owner after three successions.

The painting reflects a young woman in a rigid frontal pose, on a red and undefined background, carrying a floral cloak on her shoulders. The chromatic intensity and loose strokes of the composition immortalize the model’s face in a naturalistic and sensitive way, showing a Klimt in full apogee of his late work. In fact, the portrait was still on the author’s easel when his death occurred in 1918, which is why it is still found. unfinished in some small parts.

The Lady with fananother unknown painting by Klimt that causes a sensation at auction

It is not the first time that one of the last portraits of Gustav Klimt made just before his death manages to attract all the attention at an auction. Dame mit Facher (Lady with fan), also in the hands of a private individual until the moment of its sale, is the work of the Austrian painter who broke the auction record for an artistic work in Europe. It was sold for 98 million euros at the auction house Sotheby’s London.

This is the last portrait that Klimt painted. before his death in 1918, and at the time it surpassed the auction record registered in 2010 by Sotheby’s itself: the 75 million euros achieved by The man who walks Iof Alberto Giacometti. Furthermore, it exceeds the maximum amount for which one of Klimt’s own works was sold, held by birch forestaccording to data provided by Sotheby’s.

The portrait shows a woman of unknown identity, also in the midst of the creative process when Klimt died in Vienna at the age of 55. The work was created during period of artistic plenitude by Klimt, a moment of intense exploration in the treatment of color and shapecombining “all the technical skill and creative exuberance” cultivated by the painter throughout his career, according to Sotheby’s specialists.