Portrait of Fräulein Lieser going to Hongkong

Klimt's "Fräulein Lieser" was sold for 38,5 million euros at yesterday's auction at the Kinsky auction house. The painting will be sent to Hongkong as part of a private collection. However, before the grand journey, the portrait will once again be exhibited in Austria!

The painting was commissioned by a member of the Jewish industrialist family Lieser. It is not entirely certain whether the woman portrayed in apparently nine sittings is Helene or Annie Lieser, one of the two daughters of art benefactress Henriette "Lilly" Lieser, or her niece Margarethe Constance Lieser, daughter of Adolf Lieser. However, the latest research points to Helene Lieser, Austria's first female political scientist, who completed her doctorate at the University of Vienna. Her mother, Lilly Lieser (born in 1875 and murdered in Auschwitz in 1943) was one of the most important patrons of the arts in Vienna around 1900.
Besides the actual sitter, the painting poses further mysteries.
The provenance is considered to be incomplete, especially in the period between 1925 and the 1960s and thus during the Nazi regime. For this reason, the sale proceeds will be divided among the possible legal successors in accordance with the Washington Principles.

Next week, the painting will be on display again for 4 days at the Kinsky auction house. It is then expected to be presented at the Belvedere in Vienna.

ORF TOPOS: Lilly Lieser. Die verleumdete Mäzenin

Auktionsrekord für Österreich: Klimts "Fräulein Lieser" um 30 Millionen Euro versteigert

Auktionshaus im Kinsky