Fact of the Day: US$108M for Klimt Painting

Gustav Klimt's last completed painting before he died in 1918

Some Hongkongers still have deep, deep pockets to splurge in the hundreds of millions at an art auction.

One of the last paintings by Austrian artist Gustav Klimt was sold to a Hong Kong collector for £85.3 million (US$108.4 million), making it the most expensive artwork ever sold in Europe.

Entitled Dame mit Facher (Lady with a Fan) sold to a Hong Kong client after a 10-minute bidding war between four people at Sotheby's in London.

The sale price far exceeded the presale estimate of £65 million (US$80 million).

The painting was the last portrait Klimt completed before he died in 1918. It shows an unidentified woman against a resplendent China-influenced backdrop of a phoenix, peacock and lotus blossoms.

It was last sold in 1994 for US$11.6 million at auction in New York.

Talk about a beautiful investment after 29 years...

For the rest of us plebeians how long before we get to see this painting again?