The auctioneers have now confirmed that the works will be sold at auction and they will appear in their evening sale of Impressionist and Modern Art on November 8 in New York.
This follows on from the private deal Christie’s brokered in the summer that saw Klimt’s 1907 Adele Bloch-Bauer I become the most expensive portrait ever sold when it was purchased by cosmetics magnate Ronald Lauder, founder of the Neue Galerie in New York, for $135m (£77m).
The four works appearing at auction are Adele Bloch-Bauer II (estimate $40m-60m); Houses in Unterach on Lake Atter (estimate $18m-25m); Apple Tree I (estimate $15m-25m); and Birch Forest (estimate $20m-30m).
$140m Klimts up for auction
CHRISTIE’S are hoping to generate up to $140m for the four remaining works by Gustav Klimt (1862-1918) that were part of the high-profile Bloch-Bauer restitution case.