- By Bethany Bell
- BBC News in Vienna
January 26, 2024, 00:50 GMT
Updated 1 hour ago
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The auction house estimates the painting's value at more than $54 million
A painting by the Austrian artist Gustav Klimt that was thought lost for 100 years was found in Vienna.
The portrait of Miss Lieser once belonged to a Jewish family in Austria and was last seen publicly in 1925.
Its fate afterward is unclear, but the current owners' family have owned the painting since the 1960s.
The Kinsky auction house estimates the painting's value at more than $54 million (£42 million).
The rediscovery was described as a “sensation”.
“A painting of such rarity, artistic significance and value has not been available on the art market in Central Europe for decades,” Im Kinsky said in a statement.
The portrait will now be auctioned on April 24th in the name of the owners and legal successors of the Lieser family.
The basis for this is the Washington Principles, an international agreement on the return of Nazi-looted art to the descendants of the people from whom it was stolen.
Before the auction, the painting will be presented in various international locations, including the United Kingdom, Switzerland, Germany and Hong Kong, the auction house said.
The portrait once belonged to the Lieser family, wealthy Jewish industrialists in Vienna.
Ernst Ploil, co-managing director of the Kinsky auction house, said they had not yet found any evidence that the work was looted or stolen before or during World War II.
“The painting is described as missing in all catalogs raisonnés (comprehensive lists of Klimt's works). In our circles, “lost” probably means destroyed, probably burned in war, but definitely no longer there; it shouldn't be expected that it would ever appear again.
“We took an active approach and not only researched the Lieser family as potential applicants for restitution, but also approached potential representatives based on our experience from previous restitution proceedings.”
Klimt's art has fetched large sums at auction in the past.