Editing Gustav Klimt (section)

===Posthumous auction history===
{{Update|part=section|date=May 2025|reason=Paragraph on sale of ''Prince William Nil Nortey Dowuona'' (1897) needs updating}}[[File:Klimt-Villa 2013 Atelier 02.jpg|thumb|Klimt's reconstructed studio (2013) at the [[Klimt Villa]]. On display are copies of the paintings ''Woman with Fan'' and ''The Bride'' (both c. 1917–18)]]
Klimt's paintings have brought some of the highest prices recorded for individual works of art. In November 2003, Klimt's ''Landhaus am Attersee'' sold for [[United States dollar|$]]29,128,000,<ref>{{Citation |first=Nina |last=Siegal |url=http://dks.thing.net/NS-KlimtSetsRecord.html |title=Klimt sets record |publisher=Thing |newspaper=Bloomberg |date=6 November 2003 |access-date=4 February 2007 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060504024626/http://dks.thing.net/NS-KlimtSetsRecord.html |archive-date=4 May 2006}}.</ref> but that sale was soon eclipsed by prices paid for Willem de Kooning's ''Woman III'' and later Klimt's own ''[[Adele Bloch-Bauer II]]'', the latter of which sold for $150&nbsp;million in 2016. More frequently than paintings, however, the artist's works on paper can be found on the art market. The art market database [[Artprice]] lists 67 auction entries for paintings, but 1564 for drawings and watercolours.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.artprice.com/artist/15495/gustav-klimt |title=Gustav Klimt on Artprice |website=www.artprice.com |access-date=30 January 2019}}</ref> The most expensive drawing sold so far was "Reclining Female Nude Facing Left", which was made between 1914 and 1915 and sold in London in 2008 for {{GBP|505,250}}.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.sothebys.com/en/auctions/ecatalogue/2008/impressionist-modern-works-on-paper-l08009/lot.108.html |title=Gustav Klimt Auction at Sotheby's |website=www.sothebys.com |access-date=30 January 2019}}</ref> However, the majority of the art trade traditionally takes place privately<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/23/arts/global-art-market.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220102/https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/23/arts/global-art-market.html |archive-date=2 January 2022 |url-access=limited |url-status=live |title=Global Art Market |newspaper=The New York Times |date=23 March 2017 |access-date=30 January 2019 |last1=Reyburn |first1=Scott}}{{cbignore}}</ref> through galleries such as Wienerroither & Kohlbacher, which specialize in the trade with original works by Gustav Klimt and [[Egon Schiele]] and regularly present these at monographic exhibitions and international art fairs.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.blouinartinfo.com/news/story/2959580/gustav-klimt-retrospective-at-shepherd-wk-galleries-new-york |title=Gustav Klimt retrospective in New York |website=www.blouinartinfo.com |access-date=30 January 2019 |archive-date=30 January 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190130220948/https://www.blouinartinfo.com/news/story/2959580/gustav-klimt-retrospective-at-shepherd-wk-galleries-new-york |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.apollo-magazine.com/what-to-look-out-for-at-tefaf-new-york-spring/ |title=Gustav Klimt at TEFAF art fair |website=www.apollo-magazine.com |date=30 April 2018 |access-date=30 January 2019}}</ref>

In 2006, the 1907 portrait, ''[[Adele Bloch-Bauer I]]'', was purchased for the [[Neue Galerie New York]] by [[Ronald Lauder]] reportedly for US$135&nbsp;million, surpassing [[Picasso]]'s 1905 ''[[Garçon à la pipe|Boy With a Pipe]]'' (sold 5 May 2004 for $104&nbsp;million), as the highest reported price ever paid for a painting up to that point.<ref>{{Cite news |title=Adele Bloch-Bauer, Gustav Klimt's 'woman in gold' |url=https://www.christies.com/en/stories/gustav-klimts-woman-in-gold-af6b7e85385e46248b911d4f5533cfde |work=christies.com}}</ref>

On 7 August 2006, [[Christie's]] auction house announced it was handling the sale of the remaining four works by Klimt that were recovered by [[Maria Altmann]] and her co-heirs after their long legal battle against Austria (see ''[[Republic of Austria v. Altmann]]''). Altmann's fight to regain her family's paintings has been the subject of a number of documentary films, including ''Adele's Wish''.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.adeleswish.com/ |title=Home |website=Adele's Wish |access-date=24 October 2016}}</ref> Her struggle also became the subject of the dramatic film ''[[Woman in Gold (film)|Woman in Gold]]'', a movie inspired by ''Stealing Klimt'', the documentary featuring Maria Altmann herself.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.stealingklimt.com/ |title=Stealing Klimt |website=www.stealingklimt.com |access-date=24 October 2016}}</ref> The portrait of ''[[Adele Bloch-Bauer II]]'' was sold at auction in November 2006 for $88million, the third-highest-priced piece of art at auction at the time.<ref name="Michaud 2006-11-09">{{Citation |first=Christopher |last=Michaud |url=http://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-arts-auction-idUKN0920976420061109 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160306153909/http://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-arts-auction-idUKN0920976420061109 |url-status=dead |archive-date=6 March 2016 |title=Christie's stages record art sale |newspaper=Reuter's |date=9 November 2006 |access-date=3 November 2014}}</ref><ref name="bslaw 2006-11-09">{{cite web |url=http://www.bslaw.net/news/061109.html |title=$496 Million Auction Shatters Record |date=9 November 2006 |last=Vogel |first=Carol |website=bslaw.net |publisher=Burris, Schoenberg & Walden, LLP |location=Los Angeles, US |access-date=3 November 2014}}</ref> ''The Apple Tree I'' (c. 1912) sold for $33million, ''Birch Forest'' (1903) sold for $40.3million,{{Sfn | Kinsella | 2007 | p = 111}} and ''Houses in Unterach on Lake Atter'' (1916) sold for $31million. Collectively, the five restituted paintings netted more than $327million.{{Sfn | Kinsella | 2007 | p = 112}}  The painting ''Litzlberg am Attersee'' was auctioned for $40.4million in November 2011.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/04/arts/04iht-Melikian04.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220102/https://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/04/arts/04iht-Melikian04.html |archive-date=2 January 2022 |url-access=limited |url-status=live |title=Klimt Painting Sells for $40.4 Million |work=[[The New York Times]] |author=[[Souren Melikian]] |date=3 November 2011 |access-date=6 July 2015}}{{cbignore}}</ref>

Klimt's last painting, ''[[Lady with a Fan (Klimt)|Lady with a Fan]]'' (''Dame mit Fächer'', 1918), was sold by [[Sotheby's]] in London on 27 June 2023 for UK£85.3M (US$108.4) to a Hong Kong collector, the highest-priced artwork ever sold at auction in Europe.<ref>{{cite news |first=Jasmine |last=Andersson |title=Klimt's final portrait sells for record £85.3m |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-66036688 |work=BBC News |date=28 June 2023 |accessdate=29 June 2023}}</ref>

[[File:El príncipe Guillermo Nii Nortey Dowuona - Gustav Klimt.jpg|thumb|''Prince William Nil Nortey Dowuona'' (1897)]]

In 2021, the portrait of a young African man ''Prince William Nil Nortey Dowuona'' (1897), which had been lost after the [[World War II|Second World War]], was rediscovered and restored by the Wienerroither & Kohlbacher gallery in Vienna, which is offering it for sale until 25 March 2025 with a starting bid of €15million ($16.4m). The painting has been authenticated by Alfred Weidinger, considered one of the greatest experts on Klimt. The young man in the portrait was a dignitary of the African [[Osu caste system|Osu]] tribe, brought to Vienna as a kind of "anthropological curiosity". The painting remained in Klimt's studio until his death, until it was offered for sale at 15,000 [[Austrian krone|Austrian crowns]] in 1923. It had entered the collection of the Viennese Jew Ernestine Klein by 1928. Klein and her husband Felix also converted Klimt's former studio into a villa. She was forced into exile in 1938, after the Nazi [[Anschluss]].<ref name="Osu#">{{Cite web |title=A Rediscovered Gustav Klimt Portrait of an African Prince Is On Offer at TEFAF Maastricht |url=https://news.artnet.com/art-world/lost-gustav-klimt-portrait-african-prince-tefaf-maastricht-2621432 |website=artnet.com |access-date=19 March 2025}}</ref> The painting has been subject to a restitution settlement with Ernestine Klein's heirs.<ref name="Osu#" />