High sums are expected when a painting by Gustav Klimt goes under the hammer on Wednesday – despite the fact that ownership is unclear.
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“Bildnis Fräulein Lieser” – portrait of Miss Lieser – was commissioned by a wealthy Jewish family. Klimt painted it in 1917, the year before he died, aged just 55.
The only evidence that the unfinished portrait of a dark-haired woman from the Lieser family existed has been a black-and-white photograph taken in 1925 in connection with a planned exhibition in Vienna.
Now this year it appeared again when the auction house Im Kinsky announced that it was for sale.
30–50 million euros
– No one expected that such an important painting, which has disappeared for 100 years, would reappear, says Im Kinsky’s expert Claudia Mörth-Gasse to AFP.
The auction house estimates the value at between 30 and 50 million euros, but works by Klimt have fetched higher prices than that at auctions in recent times.
50 million euros corresponds to NOK 587 million at today’s exchange rate.
The original owner, Lilly Lieser, was deported from Vienna in 1942 and died in Auschwitz in 1943. She is said to have left the picture to one of her employees before her death. Later it turned up at one of the German art dealers of the Nazi era. The daughter inherited it, before it passed to distant relatives when she passed away.
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Get a share of the sale price
None of the Lieser heirs who survived the war, and who today live in the USA, have claimed the Klimt painting – although they have been informed that it has been recovered. Some of them traveled to see the picture and signed an agreement with the current owners that gives them a share of the sum the picture brings in, according to The Art Newspaper.
The auction house claims that no evidence has been found that the work was stolen or illegally seized by the Nazis. Nevertheless, some experts believe that the Klimt work’s ownership history, so-called provenance, should have been better investigated.
Im Kinsky also did not take the chance of exhibiting it in the United States – according to AFP for fear that it could be withheld there, which has happened in the past with other works with Austrian owners.
