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A small Manhattan museum founded by cosmetics billionaire Ron Lauder has paid a world-record price for a painting, a lawyer said yesterday.
The gold-encrusted portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer by Gustav Klimt - acquired by the Neue Galerie for a reported $135 million - had been the focus of a long battle between the Austrian government and Bloch-Bauer's 90-year-old niece, who lives in Los Angeles.
Maria Altmann was a newlywed when she watched the Nazis seize power in 1938 and steal the portrait and four other Klimt works from her aunt and uncle's home.
Altmann fought for seven years to recover her family's collection. In January, all five paintings were awarded to her and her family.
She sold the portrait because she wanted to ensure it would remain in public view, said her lawyer, Steven Thomas.
The price was not disclosed by Thomas, but he said it eclipsed the prior record of $104.1 million paid at auction for Picasso's 1905 "Boy With a Pipe." The New York Times, citing anonymous experts, reported the $135 million figure.
The Neue Galerie is a museum of German and Austrian art on Fifth Avenue at East 86th Street.
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