Despite the model’s origin, Gustav Klimt’s ‘Portrait of a Lieser’ sold for 32 million USD

According to auctioneer Im Kinsky, the long-lost work by Gustav Klimt actually hung in a private villa near Vienna for decades. Auction house Im Kinsky displayed the work in January 2024 before auctioning it off. Im Kinsky estimates its value at about 32 – 53 million USD.

Portrait of Lieser shows a teenage girl in a turquoise dress, a flowing floral jacket over a red background, skin as white as alabaster and light brown eyes with black curly hair.

Although the description is very clear, it is still unclear who “Lieser” really is.

Brothers Adolf and Justus Lieser were wealthy industrialists in the Austro-Hungarian Empire, who built their fortunes on growing jute and hemp and producing twine and rope. Henriette Amalie Lieser-Landau, nicknamed “Lilly”, married Justus and then, upon their divorce in 1905, became a prominent patron of the arts. She may have commissioned a painting of one of her daughters. Or Adolf Lieser did the same with his daughter Margarethe as the subject.

“According to the latest provenance research, Gustav Klimt’s model may not have been Margarethe Constance Lieser, Lilly Lieser’s granddaughter, but one of her two daughters (with Justus): the eldest daughter Helene was born in 1898, or little daughter Annie – 3 years younger than her sister,” the auction house said on the website.

What happened to the painting after Gustav Klimt’s death in 1918, when it should have remained in his studio? In particular, what happened after Nazi Germany annexed Austria in 1938, when the country’s Jews were persecuted, confiscated, and sent to concentration camps?

Margarethe left Austria for Hungary then England but the auction house said the painting may never have left Austria. Lilly Lieser remained in Vienna until she was deported in 1942 and then killed in Auschwitz the following year.

Im Kinsky said her daughters returned to Vienna after World War II to reclaim their property, but the painting was not mentioned in any documents.

When artist Gustav Klimt died of a stroke in February 1918, the painting remained in his studio with some small details unfinished. It was then given to the Lieser family.

Auctioneer Im Kinsky confirmed: “It was the many ambiguities and historical gaps that prompted the current owners to contact the legal heirs of the Lieser family, agreeing on a ‘fair solution’. fair and just’ with all owners by 2023”. Im Kinsky did not name the current owner of the work.

The painting has long been considered lost. The keeper of the painting was a member of a wealthy Austrian-Jewish family, from the upper echelons of society, living in Vienna, where Gustav Klimt found his patrons and clients. The auction house confirmed the painting was sold on behalf of the anonymous Austrian owners, along with the legal heirs of the Lieser family.