The Leonard A. Lauder Collection Goes to Auction at Sotheby’s

This November in New York, Sotheby’s will stage what may be one of the most anticipated auction events in recent memory: the evening sale of the lifetime collection of Leonard A. Lauder. On 18 November 2025, 24 masterworks from the late cosmetics magnate’s personal collection will come to auction—an event poised to celebrate not only a life dedicated to beauty but also a moment of renewed optimism in the art market. In addition, the sale will take place in the historic Breuer Building (945 Madison Avenue), which will then become Sotheby’s global headquarters—adding further symbolic weight to the event. The sale of the collection, estimated at around USD 400 million, will hence not only reflect Leonard A. Lauder’s exceptional eye as a collector, but also serve as a barometer of current art-market dynamics.

The Marcel Breuer modernist building, Sotheby's future HQ in NYC

Few people embody the meeting of art and elegance quite like the Lauder family. Leonard A. Lauder built his own legacy in the beauty industry—leading from 1982 the Estée Lauder Companies founded by his parents—but he also stood out as a discerning collector and philanthropist. Over decades, the influential American collector amassed not only Cubist works (famously donating his unparalleled Cubist collection to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in 2013), but also an intensely personal collection of 20th-century masterworks, housed in his home and arranged with one-of-a-kind of curatorial care. Lauder surrounded himself with works by Fernand Léger, Juan Gris, Henri Matisse, Pablo Picasso and Edvard Munch, to name a handful... 

Courtesy of the Met Museum

Collecting runs deep in the family. Leonard’s younger brother, Ronald S. Lauder, is himself a major figure in the art world—the founder of the Neue Galerie New York, dedicated to early-20th-century German and Austrian art, and the buyer of Klimt’s Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer I in 2006 for a reported USD 135 million. While Leonard lived intimately with his collection, Ronald built institutions around his: his museum holdings, his celebrated arms-and-armour collection (partly gifted to the Metropolitan Museum of Art), and his ongoing leadership in cultural philanthropy testify to a shared family belief that art should be lived with, studied, and ultimately shared. Together, the brothers’ legacies sketch a rare portrait of collecting as both private devotion and public gesture. With this upcoming sale, it is now Leonard’s personal collection—the works that he could not live without during his lifetime—that enters the public arena.

The Ronald S. Lauder collection on display at Neue Gallery in New York

The auction thus includes a selection of outstanding works, led by three paintings by Gustav Klimt. At its heart is Portrait of Elisabeth Lederer (1914–16), estimated at more than USD 150 million—a late work from the artist’s so-called “golden period,” painted for a member of Vienna’s intellectual elite and glowing with the patterned luminosity that makes Klimt’s portraits of women both intimate and monumental.

Alongside it comes Blooming Meadow (Blumenwiese) (c. 1908), a radiant mosaic of color and light, where the influence of Impressionism and Japanese art meets the flattened ornamentation of Viennese Secession design. Finally, Forest Slope in Unterach on the Attersee (1916) reveals another side of Klimt altogether: a meditative landscape painted during his summer retreats in the Salzkammergut, where he sought refuge from the turbulence of pre-war Vienna. All three works are completely fresh to the market and of museum quality—windows into the last decade of Klimt’s career, when his art balanced between sensuality and introspection. Beyond Klimt, the catalogue also features major works by Henri Matisse (notably six iconic sculptures that trace his lifelong exploration of the dialogue between line and volume), Edvard Munch, Pablo Picasso, and others—reflecting the breadth of Lauder’s artistic interests.

Forest Slope in Unterach on the Attersee (1916) by Gustav Klimt

But, beyond the obvious aesthetic riches at hand, why does this sale matter? As noted in some of our recent market commentary, auction houses like Sotheby’s are counting on marquee consignments to restore momentum amidst a complicated art market. So far, so good: the Lauder name truly carries remarkable weight—both for its corporate legacy and for Lauder’s reputation as a serious, historically minded collector. In addition, the three Klimt paintings are estimated north of USD 300 million... According to Artnet, Sotheby’s—having fully backed these works to win the consignment over—is now looking to resell the risk to third-party guarantors.

There is little doubt that the Klimt works will sell—works of such level always find a buyer. The real question is: will Sotheby’s lose or make money in the process? Only that will tell us if the art market is back on track to the extent suggested by recent events. Indeed, this sale arrives at a moment of quiet confidence returning to the market. After a buoyant Art Basel in Paris and encouraging autumn sales in France, collectors and galleries alike are sensing a shift in tone—a return to enthusiasm, curiosity, and appetite for art. As reported by Artnet in October, the six major recent auction sales held by Christie’s and Sotheby’s in Paris totalled USD 212 million—a 30 percent increase compared to the equivalent sales of 2024.

Art Basel Paris at the magnificent Grand Palais