Sotheby’s Just Had Its Most Insane Week Ever: A $236 Million Klimt, a Record Frida, and a Literal Gold Toilet
Okay. Deep breath. Let me walk you through what just happened at Sotheby’s new Manhattan headquarters — the former Whitney Museum building designed by Marcel Breuer — because it was absolutely unhinged.
First: Gustav Klimt’s Portrait of Elisabeth Lederer just sold for $236.3 million. That’s the second most expensive artwork EVER sold at auction. The bidding war lasted nearly 20 minutes, jumping by $5 million increments like it was nothing. The painting is now the most valuable work Sotheby’s has ever sold, and it shattered Klimt’s previous record.
The star portrait came from the legendary Leonard Lauder collection — 24 works that went completely white-glove (meaning: everything sold). The single-owner auction alone brought in $527.4 million. In ONE night.
But wait, there’s more. Frida Kahlo’s El sueño (La cama) — that haunting 1940 self-portrait with the skeleton above her bed — sold for $54.7 million. NEW AUCTION RECORD for any work by a woman artist. It also broke records for Latin American art and for Kahlo herself. The previous record holder? Georgia O’Keeffe’s Jimson Weed, which sold for $44.4 million back in 2014. Frida just dethroned Georgia, and honestly, the drama of it all is very on brand.
Van Gogh’s Romans Parisiens from the Pritzker collection went for $62.7 million after a seven-minute bidding frenzy. Basquiat’s Crowns (Peso Neto) fetched $48.3 million. And Cecily Brown set a new personal record at $9.8 million.
Total for the week? Over $1.17 billion. The highest result since 2021.
Oh, and Maurizio Cattelan’s solid gold toilet was installed in a functional Breuer bathroom. You couldn’t use it, but you could look at it. Art!
