News about Gustav Klimt

Last Generation Austria announced this morning it was disbanding and made a desperate appeal for further donations as its members - including the notorious German activist 'Climate Shakira' - continue to battle a host of legal cases. 'We no longer see any prospect of success... Society has failed. This makes us infinitely sad,' the message read. 'As of today, we are ending our protests and the ''Last Generation Austria''. We will use the remaining funds to cover the costs of criminalisation and investigations. Our donation channels remain open because high fines and high legal costs are still outstanding.'

According to Viennese auction house Kinsky, the 'Bildnis Fraeulein Lieser' (Portrait of Miss Lieser) will be auctioned in April. The work was commissioned by a wealthy Jewish industrialist's family and painted by Klimt in 1917, shortly before he died. On Thursday, a well-preserved painting, which depicts a dark-haired woman, was unveiled in Vienna for the first time. On April 24, it is expected to be auctioned off on behalf of the new Austrian owners and the legal successors of the Lieser family's descendants on the basis of an agreement in accordance with the Washington Principles. The 1998 international deal laid out the procedure for returning artwork stolen by the Nazis.

Forbidden Art, the first-of-its-kind Museum of Forbidden Art, housed in a historic building in Barcelona's Eixample neighborhood, 'plays with the notion of censorship.' Tatxo Benet, a Catalan journalist and businessman, began to collect the art that fills the museum in 2018, amassing more than 200 controversial works over the next five years.

According to the auctioneers, Lady With A Fan (Dame Mit Facher) on New Bond Street sold for £83.2 million ($108.4 million), making it Europe's most expensive work ever auctioned. Following a 10-minute bidding war for a hammer price of £74 million ($94.35 million), the painting was sold to a buyer in the London room. The final figure includes auction fees paid for by the purchaser's premium. The selling price far exceeded the predecessor's estimate of £65 million ($80 million). Klimt's last portrait completed before his death in 1918 was on sale on Tuesday. It depicts an unidentified woman against a backdrop of dragons and lotus blossoms.

At Vienna's Leopold Museum, climate activists poured a black, oily gel over Austrian painter Gustav Klimt's masterpiece 'Death and Life.' The dye was thrown out of the 1915 painting by two members of the 'Last Generation' group before one proceeded to glue himself to the glass shielding the masterpiece. Before police arrived on the museum, a security guard at the museum managed to tranquilize one of the protesters. Museum workers are now concerned that Klimt's painting may have been ruined during the resistance. The 'Last Generation' group defended the demonstration, saying in a tweet that they were opposed to 'oil and gas fracking,' which they described as a "death sentence to society." During recent weeks, a number of masterpieces in Europe have been targeted due to a lack of action against climate change.

In an auction attended by wealthy art collectors from around the world, last night, the first 60 pieces from his prestigious painting collection, which featured pieces by Cezanne and Seurat, went under the hammer at Christie's Rockefeller Center in New York. Adrian Meyer, who is behind the early portion of the auction: the Paul G.Allen Collection's auction, said the auction prices would be the 'largest and most exceptional in Christie's history,'- he was correct. The best seller, Seurat's 'Les Poseuses Ensemble,' an oil-on-canvas, sold for $149.2 million and was last seen at auction 50 years ago. Gustav Klimt's Maternite II of Gaugin sold for $92 million, Birch Forest by Gustav Klimt fetched $91 million, and Lucian Freud's Large Interior Q11 (after Watteau) went for $86.3 million. (L-R) Les Poseuses, Ensemble, Birch Forest, Maternite II, photo taken: (L-R) Les Poseuses, Ensemble, Les Poseuses, Maternite II, L-R)