New York museum becomes owner of Gustav Klimt’s portrait

New York museum becomes owner of Gustav Klimt’s portrait

The 1907 portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer was sold Sunday by Los Angeles resident and Bloch-Bauer's niece, Maria Altmann, and her family, said her attorney Steven Thomas, the AP reports.

Thomas refused to disclose the price, but said it eclipsed the prior record of $104.1 million paid at auction for Picasso's 1905 "Boy With a Pipe (The Young Apprentice)." The New York Times, citing experts familiar with the negotiations, reported the portrait sold for $135 million ( Ђ 106.7 million.

The Klimt painting will now be displayed at the Neue Galerie, a New York museum of German and Austrian art co-founded by cosmetics mogul Ronald S. Lauder, who Thomas said was instrumental in the deal.