Spectacular White-Glove $527.5m Sale of the Leonard A. Lauder Collection Ushers in Sotheby’s Era at the Breuer
Gustav Klimt’s Masterpiece, Portrait of Elisabeth Lederer Sells for $236.4m
The Most Valuable Work Ever Sold at Sotheby’s
And Double the Previous Auction Record for the Artist
Two Landscapes by Klimt Also Realize a Further $154.3m
Rare Masterpiece Bronzes by Henri Matisse are Met with Strong Demand, Selling for a Combined $49m
“We witnessed art market history tonight at Sotheby’s. How fitting that we inaugurated our new building by offering Leonard A. Lauder's extraordinary collection, whose vision and generosity was so closely associated with the history of the Breuer.”
Charles F. Stewart, Sotheby’s Chief Executive Officer
“From start to finish, this was a sale that showed the full breadth of Leonard A. Lauder’s peerless eye. Bringing together three masterpieces by Klimt in a single evening is something we may never see again in our lifetimes – and you could feel this in the electric atmosphere in the saleroom tonight. The Klimts may take the headlines, but this was an evening full of high points. At the Whitney – in whose former home we staged tonight’s historic auction – Mr. Lauder is regarded as the museum’s greatest champion. So it is fitting that tonight, here at the Breuer, another chapter of his remarkable legacy has been written.”
Lisa Dennison, Sotheby’s Chairman Americas
NEW YORK, 18 NOVEMBER 2025 – Tonight, at Sotheby’s inaugural sale in New York’s historic Breuer Building, the Leonard A. Lauder Collection – a once-in-a-generation collection of 20th-century masterpieces – achieved $527.5m, eclipsing its estimate ($379.2 - 412.5m), and announcing Sotheby's arrival at the Breuer in spectacular fashion.
The white-glove sale was led by Gustav Klimt’s towering masterpiece, Bildnis Elisabeth Lederer (Portrait of Elisabeth Lederer), 1914 -16, which, over the course of a twenty-minute bidding battle between 6 collectors, far-outstripped pre-sale expectations of $150m, doubling the previous record for the artist, and selling to applause at $236.4m. The painting now takes its place as the most valuable work by Klimt ever sold at auction, the most valuable work of art ever sold by Sotheby’s, and the second most valuable work of art ever sold at auction.
The sale of the portrait was swiftly followed by that of two further Klimt masterpieces – landscapes of the artist’s beloved summer retreat Attersee – Blumenwiese (Blooming Meadow) (c. 1908), expected to realise in excess of $80m, sold for $86m and Waldabhang bei Unterach am Attersee (Forest Slope in Unterach on the Attersee) (1916), sold for $68.3m to Patti Wong, of Patti Wong & Associates. Two pencil-on-paper studies by Klimt also surpassed expectations, taking the total for the artist tonight to over $391,683,300.
Edvard Munch’s Sankthansnatt (Midsummer Night), capturing the shimmering Nordic light on the road into Åsgårdstrand, Oslo, which inspired so many of his greatest works, sold - after a 7 minute bidding battle - for $35.1m directly underbid by Patti Wong, of Patti Wong & Associates (est. $20-30m).
A 10-minute bidding battle drove Agnes Martin's, canvas The Garden beyond estimate to $17.6m. The painting was last publicly exhibited in the artist’s landmark 1992 retrospective organized by the Whitney Museum of American Art at the Breuer Building – the venue for tonight’s auction.
An unprecedented group of six important Matisse bronzes was met with strong demand, realizing a combined total of $49m surpassing the pre-sale estimate ($30.8 m - $42.6 m). The group was led by the rare masterpiece Figure décorative, which sold for $16.71m, becoming the second highest price of a Matisse bronze. Meanwhile, La Serpentine, sold at an above estimate $16.7m.
Vincent Van Gogh’s Le Semeur dans un champ de blé au soleil couchant - a powerful drawing in pen and reed in which a rich concentration of strokes, dots and lines come together in explosive fashion - sold for $11.2m, the highest price ever achieved at auction for a work by the artist executed purely in pen and ink.
For a full breakdown of top prices and other takeaways from the sale please see below.
Key Facts and Figures:
White glove sale totals $527.5m (est. $379.2 - 412.5m), across just 24 lots
100% sold by lot with 83% of works selling above their high estimates
The highest average lot value ever at Sotheby's auction history ($22m)
Bidders participate from around the world - with Asian collectors bidding on lots 6 (Edvard Munch), 8 (Klimt, Portrait of Elisabeth Lederer), 10 (Klimt, Study for Portrait I of Adele Bloch-Bauer),and 14 (Klimt, Forest Slope in Unterach on the Attersee), among others.
Continues a long tradition at Sotheby’s of white glove results for single-owner evening sales (Sydell Miller Collection, Nov 2024; Emily Fisher Landau Collection, Nov 2023; Collection of David M Solinger, Nov 2023, Macklowe Collection, Nov 2021 and May 2022)
Top 10 Lots:
Gustav Klimt’s Bildnis Elisabeth Lederer: one of the finest and most intricately conceived of the celebrated full-length portraits created during Vienna’s early 20th century Golden Age, sold for $236.4m, doubling the artist's previous record. The work is now the most valuable work of art ever sold by Sotheby’s, and second highest work of art ever sold at auction anywhere.
Gustav Klimt’s Blumenwiese (Blooming Meadow), a square-format jewel-like mosaic of the wildflowers of the Attersee, created during the height of his golden period, sold for $86m - well above its pre-sale estimate of $80m.
Gustav Klimt’s Waldabhang bei Unterach am Attersee (Forest Slope in Unterach on the Attersee), thought to be the last surviving landscape the artist painted, achieved $68m. Selling to Patti Wong, of Patti Wong & Associates.
Edvard Munch’s Sankthansnatt (Midsummer Night), was pursued by 3 bidders for 7 minutes and directly underbid by Patti Wong, of Patti Wong & Associates for $35.1m (est: $20-30m).
Agnes Martin’s The Garden returned to public view for the first time since its inclusion in the 1992 retrospective at the Whitney Museum of American Art. The only multi-colored grid painting by Martin, the work established a new record for the artist, selling for $17.6m. (est: $9-12m)
Henri Matisse’s Figure décorative, a rare and important early bronze of the early oeuvre and one of the earliest examples of his creative engagement with the nude, achieved $16.7m.(est: $12-18m), becoming the second highest price for a Matisse bronze sold at auction.
Henri Matisse’s La Serpentine, widely recognized as one of the artist’s most innovative sculptures, with the majority of casts held in major museum collections, was pursued by five bidders to sell for $16,705,000 beyond its pre-sale estimate of $9-12m.
Vincent Van Gogh’s a rare and important reed pen drawing Le Semeur dans un champ de blé au soleil couchant, depicting a sower, one of Vincent van Gogh's most treasured and historic motifs, sold for $11.2m.(est $8-10m) - the highest price ever achieved at auction for a drawing by the artist executed purely in pen and ink.
Henri Matisse’s Nu couché I (Aurore), derived from the nude figures of his Fauve masterworks Luxe, calme et volupté and Le Bonheur de Vivre, sold for $12.8m (est: $8-10m).
Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, Pfeilbogen (Fränzi with Bow and Arrow), acquired by Estée and Joseph Lauder and with the family over 50 years ago, sold for $3.2m (est: $2.5-3.5m).
Masterpieces on offer in this landmark sale encapsulated the connoisseurship of one of the greatest collectors and benefactors of the arts in America: Leonard A. Lauder.
A further 30 works from this prestigious collection will be offered in the Leonard A. Lauder, Collector | Day Auction on Wednesday 19 November.
The Lauder Legacy
Leonard A. Lauder was one of the art world’s most passionate and influential collectors, philanthropists, and civic leaders for more than half a century. His first significant art purchase – a late collage by the German Dadaist Kurt Schwitters – was acquired at Sotheby’s Parke Bernet in 1966.
Over the following decades he built the world’s finest private collection of Cubist art. His landmark gift of 90 seminal Cubist works to The Metropolitan Museum of Art transformed the museum’s modern holdings. At the Whitney Museum of American Art, where he served as chairman, he is regarded as the institution’s greatest champion. In 2008, his record $131 million gift – the largest single donation in the Whitney’s history – underpinned the museum’s move to its downtown home. He also donated and helped the museum acquire more than 1,300 works for its collection.
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