Gustav Klimt's dying painting "Lady with a Fan" sold for a record sum at Sotheby's

Gustav Klimt's latest painting "Lady with a Fan" was sold for a record £85.3 million (over $108 million) at Sotheby's .It made the painting the most valuable work of art ever sold at auction in Europe.

"Lady with a Fan" (Dame mit Fächer) was purchased by a collector from Hong Kong, according to the auction house's social media. This painting was created by the artist right before his death in 1918.

The previous record at a European auction among works of art belonged to Alberto Giacometti's bronze statuette "Walking Man I". It was sold in 2010 for $104.3 million.

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Earlier, Sotheby's planned to sell the painting at an initial bid of $80 million. The head of the auction, Helen Newman, noted that this is Klimt's best painting, painted by the artist "in his prime." According to her, unlike other works by the artist, this painting was created not for a commission, but for himself. It is emphasized that the identity of the girl in the painting has not yet been established.

Initially, the painting belonged to Klimt's patron and friend, a major industrialist Erwin Bel. After that, the painting was passed to the collector Rudolf Leopold, who sold the "Lady with a Fan" to the current owner's family in 1994 for $12 million.

As a reminder, two new world records for the sale of precious stones were set at Sotheby's in the United States.

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