LONDON, June 23 (Reuters) - The last-ever portrait Austrian artist Gustav Klimt painted before he died is headed for auction next week, with a price estimate of $80 million.
"Dame mit Fächer" ("Lady with a Fan") - a portrait of an unnamed woman - was still on an easel in Klimt's studio when the painter died in February 1918.
It leads Sotheby's Modern & Contemporary Evening Auction on June 27 in London, with a price estimate of around 65 million pounds ($80 million).
That price tag makes it "the most valuable ever to have been offered at auction in Europe," according to Sotheby's.
"It’s very rare for a Klimt painting of this quality and caliber of a portrait of a woman to come to auction."
Persons:
Gustav Klimt, Klimt, Helena Newman, Lucian Freud’s, Penelope Cuthbertson, Leonor Fini, Alberto Giacometti, Buste, Diego, Will Russell, Marie, Louise Gumuchian, Matthew Lewis
Organizations:
Sotheby’s, Reuters, Thomson
Locations:
London, Europe, Asia, Sotheby’s Europe