After being determined as wrongfully seized by the Nazis during World War II, the Austrian government returned five oil paintings to Maria Altmann. The story made headlines in June when Ronald S. Lauder paid a record $135 million for Klimt’s portrait of Altmann’s aunt Adele Bloch-Bauer.
Bloch-Bauer was the wife of a Jewish sugar industrialist and rumored to have been romantically involved with Klimt.
The painting purchased by Lauder is considered one of Klimt’s masterpieces and eclipsed the sale of $104.2 million paid for a Picasso.
Altmann had to go to court to retrieve the five paintings in a restitution case that involved the Nazi seizure of Jewish property. According to Christie’s in London the remaining four oil paintings are expected to bring in between $100-150 million in privately held sales.