A painting by Austrian artist Gustav Klimt, believed to have been lost since 1925, has been found and will be auctioned in April, the im Kinsky auction house announced Thursday.
The auctioneer estimates the painting, “Portrait of Fraulein Lieser,” to be worth $32.6 million to $54.35 million. One of Klimt’s last works will be auctioned on April 24.
Klimt began the portrait, depicting a female relative of Jewish Austrian industrialist Adolf Lieser, in 1917. The portrait had minor portions unfinished when Klimt died in 1918, and the work was left to the Lieser family, im Kinsky explained.
The painting was last publicly seen in 1925 at a Klimt exhibition in Vienna.
Proceeds from the April sale of the portrait will go to the current owners and to the legal successors of Adolf Lieser and his wife, in accordance with standards for the sale of art looted by the Nazis.
• Brad Matthews can be reached at bmatthews@washingtontimes.com.
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