How Checkbook Art History Elevated Gustav Klimt To The $100 Million Club

This article originally appeared on artnet News. by Eileen Kinsella Gustav Klimt, Adele Bloch-Bauer I (1907) ©Neue Galerie New York. Nine years ago, when cosmetics magnate and top collector Ronald Lauder, co-founder of the Neue Galerie, shelled out a reported $135 million for Gustav Klimt's Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer I (1907), many in the art world were stunned (see Why Ronald Lauder is Right About Nazi-Looted Art in Museums). At that point, only one work had ever sold for more than $100 mil...