2025 Becomes the Year of Klimt as His Works Sweep Top Three Auction Prices
Creatrip Team
2 months ago
Artnet News named the top 10 auction results of 2025, and Austrian “golden” painter Gustav Klimt dominated the list by taking the top three spots. His Portrait of Elisabeth Lederer (1914–16) sold at Sotheby’s New York evening sale on November 18 for $236.3 million (about ₩346.5 billion), setting a new auction record for Klimt and making him the second artist ever to reach such high auction prices after Leonardo da Vinci’s Salvator Mundi. Two other Klimt works—Blumenwiese (1908) and Waldabhang bei Unterach am Attersee (1916)—sold for $86 million and $68.3 million respectively. All three came from the late American collector Leonard Lauder’s collection, whose estate sale was the year’s biggest market event. Other major results included Van Gogh, Mark Rothko, Frida Kahlo (who set a personal auction record), Jean‑Michel Basquiat, Piet Mondrian, Claude Monet and Pablo Picasso rounding out the top ten. (Sotheby’s and Artnet News coverage cited.)
