Gustav Klimt’s “Lady with a Fan” fetches more than 86 million euros at auction, a new record in Europe

A new record. The painting by the most famous of Austrian painters Gustav Klimt the lady with a fan was sold on Tuesday June 27 in London for 74 million pounds (more than 86 million euros), exceeding the estimates of Sotheby’s, organizer of the sale. This late work by the painter who died in 1918, thus dethrones the previous European record held since February 2010 by a sculpture by Alberto Giacometti, walking man Iwhich had sold at the time for 65 million pounds (75 million euros), already at Sotheby’s.

Sotheby’s, which organized the sale, presented this work, one of the last paintings by Klimt (1862-1918), as “not only the star of the London summer auction season, but also one of the finest and most valuable ever offered in Europe”. It indicated that it could sell for 65 million pounds, well below the price finally obtained under the hammer, after ten minutes of bidding and breathtaking suspense in the last moments when two potential buyers were still in the running. Once the costs inherent in the sale have been added, the winner, whose identity has not been revealed, will have to pay 85.3 million pounds (nearly 99 million euros).

Gustav Klimt had started the canvas in 1917, a year before his death in 1918 at age 55. We see a dark-haired woman, of unknown identity, dressed in a loose dress and bare shoulders, holding a fan in her hand. Behind her, we find patterns and colors often seen in the artist, such as blue and green birds, flowers on a golden yellow background. The canvas had been in a private collection since 1994, according to information given by Sotheby’s.