The painting Buchenwald (birch forest) by Gustav Klimt fetched 105 million dollars (104.6 million euros) at an auction on Wednesday. This is a new record for a painting by Klimt. It was previously at 88 million dollars (87.6 million euros) for “Adele Bloch-Bauer II”.
The works from the extensive collection of Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen, who passed away in 2018, generated high yields in New York on Wednesday. Five dozen works by Klimt, Paul Cezanne, Vincent van Gogh and other artists raised a total of $1.5 billion (1.49 billion euros). According to auction house Christie’s, this was the highest amount ever raised from a single art auction.
There were several record prices. For example, Klimt’s “Buchenwald/Birkenwald” earned 105 million dollars (104.6 million euros), more than any other painting by the same artist. Allen bought the painting at auction in 2006 after the Republic of Austria had a long dispute with the heirs of the Bloch-Bauer family. Today, according to Christie’s, the painting is more than double over $90 million.
The proceeds will be donated
The auction of the private art collection with a total of more than 150 works will continue on Thursday. Proceeds will be donated to charity at Allen’s request. “Buchenwald/Birkenwald” is on display at the Neue Galerie in New York from February to May 2024.
Source: Krone
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