The Woman With a Fan Who Set Gustav Klimt's Auction Record
3 min read · 31 Jan 2025
Dame mit Fächer (Lady with a Fan). Image courtesy of Sotheby's
Gustav Klimt's Dame mit Fächer (Lady with a Fan) (1917-18) sold for $108.7m (£85.31m) at Sotheby's in London on June 27, 2023. It went to a Hong Kong collector after a ten-minute bidding war.
The oil on canvas work had been traded 8 times in the past. Dame mit Fächer last sold at Sotheby’s in New York in 1994, when it was acquired for $11.66m, at the time Klimt's auction record.
The identity of Klimt's sitter is unknown, although it may have been one of his regular models, Johanna Staude, who posed in an oriental robe standing before Chinese-style fabric for what proved to be Klimt's last portrait. The painting was photographed after he died in 1918 where had he left it in his studio in Vienna.
Birch Forest. Image courtesy of Christie's
The sale beat Klimt's previous auction record by $4.14m, a 3% rise. The previous record was set by Birch Forest (1903), which sold for $104.6m at Christie's on November 9, 2022. The work had been traded 6 times in the past.
A Brief History of Klimt at Auction
Sale Date | Title | Price | Record Increase | Venue | City |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
2023-06-27 | Dame mit Fächer (Lady with a Fan) | $108.7m | 4 % | Sotheby's | London |
2022-11-09 | Birch Forest | $104.6m | 19 % | Christie's | New York |
2006-11-08 | Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer II | $87.9m | 238 % | Christie's | New York |
2003-11-05 | Landhaus am Attersee | $26m | 10 % | Sotheby's | New York |
1997-10-09 | Schloss Kammer am Attersee II | $23.59m | 76 % | Christie's | London |
1997-05-13 | Litzlbergerkeller am Attersee | $13.4m | 15 % | Sotheby's | New York |
1994-05-11 | Dame mit Fächer (Lady with a Fan) | $11.66m | 141 % | Sotheby's | New York |
1987-06-30 | Castle Kammer on Lake Atter II | $4.84m | 38 % | Sotheby's | London |
1987-05-11 | Portrait of Eugenia Mada Primavesi | $3.5m | 36 % | Sotheby's | New York |
1987-03-31 | Portrait of Rose von Rosthorn-Friedmann | $2.57m | 186 % | Sotheby's | London |
1983-12-06 | The golden rider | $899,300 | 525 % | Sotheby's | London |
1974-05-28 | Die grosse Pappel II | $143,800 | 188 % | Dorotheum | Vienna |
1971-11-30 | Bildnis Hermine Gallia | $49,900 | - | Christie's | London |
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