Gustav Klimt's "Lady with a Fan" has become the most expensive painting ever sold in Europe, fetching a price of £74 million ($108.77 million) at an auction at Sotheby's London. The 1918 painting, which had not been on the market for 30 years, surpassed the previous European auction record. However, Leonardo da Vinci's "Salvator Mundi" remains the most expensive painting ever sold worldwide.
Gustav Klimt's "Lady With a Fan" sold for $108.4 million at Sotheby's, setting a new auction record for the artist and becoming the highest price for a public sale in Europe. The painting inspired 10 minutes of competition from three Asian bidders before selling to Hong Kong-based art adviser Patti Wong. The painting depicts an unidentified young woman against a backdrop of opulent Oriental textiles and was one of two unfinished paintings photographed on easels in Klimt's Vienna studio shortly after the artist died of Spanish flu.
The final painting by artist Gustav Klimt, Lady with a Fan, is expected to fetch up to £65m when it is auctioned in London later this month, making it the most valuable painting ever offered at auction in Europe. The portrait of an unnamed woman was painted in 1918 and features strong Asian influences, including several Chinese motifs. Klimt celebrated the female body in his work, which was often considered controversial due to its erotic nature. The Lady with a Fan was not a commissioned piece and was painted entirely in the pursuit of his own interests.
