G ustav Klimt’s Portrait of Elisabeth Lederer captures a moment where beauty, power, and symbolism converge. Painted in 1914, the work portrays the daughter of Klimt’s most important patrons draped in an imperial Chinese dragon robe — a garment reserved for emperors, reimagined here as a symbol of sensuality and modern freedom. The portrait merges East and West, fashion and fantasy, turning Elisabeth into an emblem of Vienna’s golden age of culture and style.
Klimt’s fascination with Asian art and opulent textiles reaches its height in this composition. The painting’s tapestry of soldiers, courtiers, and celestial motifs frames Elisabeth like an empress, while the delicate balance of eroticism and restraint defines Klimt’s genius. Few portraits so perfectly reflect the tensions of a world on the brink of modernity — and the artist who dared to blur the boundaries of beauty, status, and desire.
On 18 November in New York, Sotheby’s will offer Gustav Klimt's Bildnis Elisabeth Lederer (Portrait of Elisabeth Lederer) as a part of Leonard A. Lauder, Collector Evening Auction, a once-in-a-generation collection of 20th-century masterpieces that personifies the lifelong connoisseurship of one of the greatest collectors and benefactors of the arts in America.
The sale will launch Sotheby’s new global headquarters: the historic Breuer Building at 945 Madison Avenue, a cultural landmark of New York. Exhibitions at the Breuer Building will be free and open to the public starting on 8 November.
