G. Klimt’s painting considered missing will be sold at auction, its value reaches 50 million euros Culture

The artist began painting this unfinished work, entitled “Portrait of Fraulein Lieser”, in 1917, a year before his death.

It is believed that the value of this one of G. Klimt’s last paintings is approximately 50 million. euros, although there is no doubt that a higher amount can be paid for it at the auction.

Experts do not fully agree on what is depicted in this painting. It is likely that she is the daughter of one of the industrialist brothers Adolfs or Justas Lieserii.

Art historians Thomas Natter and Alfred Weidinger claim that the painting depicts Adolf Lieser’s daughter Margarete Konstancija Lieser.

However, the Viennese auction house Im Kinsky, which is auctioning the artwork, says that the painting may also depict one of the two daughters of Justus Lieser and his wife Henriette. Henrietta, known as Lilly, was a patron of modern art. During World War II, she was deported by the Nazis and died in the Auschwitz concentration camp.

The auction house claims that the exact fate of the painting after 1925 is “unclear”. It is only known that it was used in the 20th century. legally acquired by a purchaser in the 1960s, it has passed through three successive successions to the present owner.

The identity of the current Austrian owners of this painting has not been disclosed.

It is said that G. Klimt’s painting is being sold with the agreement of its current owners and the heirs of Adolf and Henriette Lieser, based on the so-called Washington principles, according to which a work of art stolen by the Nazis is returned to the descendants of the people from whom it was stolen.

In June last year, the work of the artist G. Klimt “Lady with a fan” was sold for 85.3 million. pounds sterling, making it the most valuable work of art ever sold at auction in Europe.