Leonard Lauder, who died in June at the age of 92, made his mark not only as a cosmetics magnate and philanthropist but also as one of the past half-century’s preeminent art collectors. In his later years, he disseminated many of his prized possessions, most famously gifting 90 landmark works of Cubism—said to be the greatest such trove in private hands, worth $1 billion—to the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
But he didn’t part with all his treasures; some will be up for grabs November 18, when Sotheby’s mounts a single-owner evening sale of 24 lots, with another 31 going on the block the next day, for a total expected take of more than $400 million. The star of the night: Klimt’s Portrait of Elisabeth Lederer (1914-16), a head-to-toe view executed in Klimt’s signature dreamy, expressionist style (below). With an estimate north of $150 million, the highest for any artwork announced for this auction season as of press time, it is being positioned to break the Viennese artist’s auction record of $108.8 million, set in 2023. The oil painting has never been on the open market and is one of only two Klimt full-length society portraits—his most coveted works—not in a museum collection.
Klimt’s Portrait of Elisabeth Lederer (1914-16)
Courtesy of Sotheby’s
Among the other standouts are Klimt’s Blooming Meadow (1908)—a sea of green grass and trees flecked with blue, yellow, and pink dabs of wildflowers—and six figurative bronzes by Matisse.
Fittingly, the sale will inaugurate Sotheby’s new HQ in New York City’s Breuer building, on Madison Avenue. It’s the former home of the Whitney Museum of American Art, where Lauder long served as chairman. (He donated $131 million for its current edifice, designed by Renzo Piano.) No doubt Sotheby’s and the estate hope bidders will heed the advice Lauder once told me his legendary mother, Estée, gave him: “You only regret what you do not buy.”
Top: Henri Matisse, Henriette II, Bronze Conceived in Nice in 1927 and cast circa 1930.