WORLD RECORD FOR MAX OPPENHEIMER

WORLD RECORD FOR MAX OPPENHEIMER

700,000 euros for restituted self-portrait at Dorotheum auction on 19 November 2024

The Modern Art auction at Dorotheum on 19 November 2024 got off to a brilliant start with a sensational 700,000 euros, the world record price for a work by Max Oppenheimer (1885-1954). The winning bid for Oppenheimer's last self-portrait, which was met with applause from the audience, went to a saleroom bidder. Painted in 1933, the work portrays both inner turmoil and power. The Jewish artist, who was persecuted by the Nazis, had to leave the painting behind in Vienna in 1938 when he fled abroad. A year later, the painting ended up in the Historical Museum of the City of Vienna (today Wien Museum) and was restituted to its heirs, two charitable organisations, in 2024.

The international figureheads of Austrian modernism were in high demand, in addition to Gustav Klimt, especially Egon Schiele, whose Seated Girl with Hair Ribbon far exceeded expectations at 737,500 euros. The expressive female nudes drawn in black crayon in 1918, the year of Schiele's death, were auctioned for 390,000 euros. Top results were achieved for works by Carl Moll, Alfons Walde, Giacomo Balla, Víctor Brauner or Francis Picabia, among others.