Schiele Auctioned for Klimt

Neue Galerie New York, founded by the cosmetics mogul Ronald S. Lauder and the art dealer Serge Sabarsky, is selling three art works at auction to help pay for its recent record-breaking acquisition of Gustav Klimt's 'Adele Bloch-Bauer I.' On Nov. 8 at Christie's New York, the museum will offer two watercolors and an oil painting by Austrian artist Egon Schiele, estimated to fetch as much as $45 million total. Auction funds will be applied toward the cost of the museum's new, gold-encrusted Klimt, which Lauder dubbed the "Mona Lisa'' of German and Austrian art. The price was not confirmed, but a $135 million figure appeared in articles attributed to anonymous sources. It was reported to be the highest price ever paid for an artwork. The Neue Galerie art works are just a small part of Christie's Nov. 8 Impressionist and Modern art auction. The evening portion of the art sale is expected to fetch as much as $488 million. The current record for an art auction is held by Sotheby's New York with a $286 million total realized in May 1990. For the full story - click the title Irish Art