Magnificent portrait by Gustav Klimt to be offered at Christie’s

Gustav Klimt
Frauenbildnis (Portrait of Ria Munk III)
oil on canvas
Estimate: £14 million – £18 million

Magnificent portrait by Gustav Klimt to be offered at Christie’s Christie’s announce that they will offer one of the last of the great female portraits painted by Gustav Klimt (1862-1918), ‘Frauenbildnis (Portrait of Ria Munk III)’, at the Impressionist and Modern Art Evening Sale in London on 23 June 2010]]>

May 30, 2010, source: Christie’s
Executed in 1917-18, Frauenbildnis (Portrait of Ria Munk III) is the third and final painting in a series of three portraits commissioned by the Munk family of their daughter Ria. One of the last and most modern of Klimt’s full-length female portraits, the painting offers a glimpse into the working methods of one of the most celebrated artists of the 20th century and is expected to realise £14 million to £18 million.

Giovanna Bertazzoni, Director and Head of Impressionist and Modern art at Christie’s, London: “It is an exceptionally rare occasion to be able to offer at auction a late portrait by Gustav Klimt, let alone a portrait of such importance; this is only the second or third comparable example to be offered at auction in over 20 years. Gustav Klimt is an artist with an international following and we look forward to offering this exceptional work to collectors from around the world in London in June.”

Gustav Klimt (1862-1918) rose to prominence as the foremost avant-garde artist at the turn of the 20th century in the thriving, creative artistic centre of Vienna. Aranka Munk was the sister of Serena Lederer, Klimt’s most important patron. When Aranka’s daughter Ria committed suicide with a shot to the chest in December 1911 having fallen out with her lover, the writer Hans Heinz Ewers, Aranka Munk commissioned Klimt to paint a death-bed portrait of her daughter. The first two efforts were turned away by the Munks – the second version was subsequently altered and is now widely believed to be Die Tänzerin, the magnificent portrait of a dancer, now in the Neue Galerie in New York.