Klimt Portrait Sets Modern Art World Record With $236.4 Million Sale

A Gustav Klimt portrait of a young Viennese woman set a record auction price for the artist Tuesday when it fetched $236.4 million at Sotheby’s in New York.

The portrait also became the most expensive work of modern art ever sold at auction. The hammer went down for an undisclosed buyer after 20 minutes of bidding from both in the room and by telephone, orchestrated by tuxedo-clad auctioneer Oliver Barker.