Description
Portrait of Baroness Elisabeth Bachofen-Echt is the life-size portrait, painted between 1914 and 1916, in which Gustav Klimt shows a slim young woman in a flowing white dress and a floral chiffon shawl in front of a blue-violet wall crowded with small East Asian figures. In November 2025 it reached the highest auction price ever paid for a Klimt. We paint it by hand in oil on canvas, in eight upright sizes from 60 x 90 to 150 x 210 cm or to your own measurement.
| Title: | Portrait of Baroness Elisabeth Bachofen-Echt |
| Other titles: | Portrait of Elisabeth Lederer · Ritratto della baronessa Elisabeth Bachofen-Echt |
| Painter: | Gustav Klimt (1862–1918) |
| Year painted: | 1914–1916 |
| Original size: | 130.5 cm x 180.4 cm |
| Original technique: | Oil on canvas |
| Painting style: | Vienna Secession |
| Located at: | Private collection |
| Our reproduction: | Hand-painted oil on canvas, eight upright sizes or made to measure |
Portrait of Baroness Elisabeth Bachofen-Echt – Gustav Klimt
What does the painting show?
A slim young woman stands facing us, shown at full length from her dark hair to her feet. She wears a flowing white dress and, over her shoulders and arms, a white chiffon shawl with floral patterns that falls in soft folds. She stands on a patterned carpet in orange, red and black.
Behind her rises a blue-violet wall filled with small East Asian figures: soldiers, scholars and courtiers, each one a little scene of its own. The pale, quiet figure in front of this busy, colourful background is what makes the portrait so striking, and why it holds a room so well.
Why did the portrait set an auction record in 2025?
On 18 November 2025 the portrait was sold at Sotheby’s in New York for 236.4 million US dollars, after a contest of about 20 minutes, to a bidder on the telephone. That is the highest auction price ever paid for a work by Klimt. The sale and the painting’s story are summarised on Wikipedia.
Before the sale the painting belonged to the American collector Leonard Lauder. It is a rare, life-size portrait from Klimt’s last years, and its history is remarkable. For buyers of our hand-painted version, the record is above all a sign of how much this portrait is loved: you get the same composition, painted by hand, at the size that suits your wall.
What do the figures in the background mean?
They come from Chinese material culture and Peking opera: low-ranking military figures, scholars and courtiers, set across the wall like a decorative frieze. Klimt owned ukiyo-e prints, kimonos and Qing court robes, and in his late portraits he drew on this East Asian world again and again.
The figures do not tell a single story. They turn the background into a colourful pattern full of small faces and gestures, against which the young woman in white looks calm, modern and a little distant. Up close you can study the figures one by one; from across the room they read as a soft, glowing wall of colour.
Who was Elisabeth Bachofen-Echt, and what happened to the painting?
She was born Elisabeth Lederer, daughter of the Viennese collectors August and Serena Lederer, who were among Klimt’s greatest patrons. Her parents commissioned the portrait in 1914, when she was about twenty, and Klimt worked on it until 1916. In 1921 she married Baron Wolfgang von Bachofen-Echt, which is where the usual title comes from; she died in 1944. More about the painter is on Wikipedia.
After the Anschluss in 1938 the painting was seized. It survived the war: unlike many works from the Lederer collection, it was not taken to Immendorf Castle, where they burned in 1945. Today it is in a private collection. Our version is not a print: it is painted for you, by hand, in the size you choose.
Elisabeth Bachofen-Echt among Klimt’s portraits of women
Klimt painted many women from Vienna’s collecting families, and our gallery lets you compare them. Its closest relative is Friederike Maria Beer, painted in 1916: a young woman in a zig-zag jacket in front of a Korean battle scene. The Portrait of Amalie Zuckerkandl is another late portrait, while the golden Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer I and the Portrait of Fritza Riedler show his earlier, more ornamental years.
Which to choose? Choose Elisabeth Bachofen-Echt if you want a calm, tall, full-length figure in white against cool blue, ideal for a high wall; choose Friederike Maria Beer if you prefer warm colour and movement, with a figure shown to the knee. The two also hang beautifully side by side as a pair.
How do we paint the Portrait of Baroness Elisabeth Bachofen-Echt by hand?
The painter first draws the standing figure and the outline of the shawl, so that the proportions of this tall, life-size composition are exactly right. Then comes the blue-violet wall with its many small figures, each painted with its own colours and gestures, and the patterned carpet in orange, red and black.
The white dress and the chiffon shawl are built up last, in thin, layered strokes of white, grey and pale blue, so that the fabric looks light and transparent and the floral pattern shimmers through. A printed oil painting reproduction cannot give this depth to white; by hand, every stroke keeps its texture. Every painting is a hand-painted copy made for your order, so no two are ever quite the same.
There is no gold in this portrait, so we work only with oil colours, which keeps the whites clean and the blues deep.
Which size for which wall?
Short answer: 60 x 90 or 70 x 100 cm for a narrow wall or a hallway, 80 x 110 or 90 x 130 cm above a sideboard or a sofa, 100 x 140 or 110 x 160 cm for a large living room wall, 126 x 180 cm for the size of the original and 150 x 210 cm for a high wall in an open space or a staircase.
All eight sizes are upright and close to the proportion of the original: 60 x 90, 70 x 100, 80 x 110, 90 x 130, 100 x 140, 110 x 160, 126 x 180 and 150 x 210 cm. At 126 x 180 cm the figure is about life-size, as in the original. Because the figure is tall and slim, as a painting for the living room 100 x 140 cm above a sofa shows the whole woman without crowding the wall.
Hang it with the centre of the canvas about 150 to 160 cm above the floor; above furniture, leave 20 to 30 cm between the top of the piece and the lower edge of the canvas.
Custom size, stretcher and frame
If none of the eight sizes fits your wall, we paint it to measure. Send us the width and height you want and we will quote a price and a lead time. Every painting we make is stretched over a wooden stretcher and ready to hang.
For the moulding, use our 3D application: it shows every one of our frame profiles on this subject, so you can compare gold, silver, black, white and natural wood before deciding – the application is for choosing the frame only. If you would like to see how the painting will look on your own wall, that is our separate room placement service. A white or silver frame echoes the white dress; a dark wood or black frame deepens the blue-violet wall; a warm gold frame picks up the orange of the carpet.
Delivery and guarantee
Every painting is made to order in our studio, so allow 15 to 45 days depending on the size you choose. We ship it stretched and protected for transport, framed if you chose a frame, across the EU with no customs. Before dispatch you receive a photograph of the finished work to approve; if anything is not right, we correct it while the canvas is still in our workshop. Our returns policy applies to every order.
If it is a present and you do not know the right size, there is a wall art voucher. Every other Klimt work we paint is in the Gustav Klimt gallery, and there is more on the painter in our article ten interesting facts about Gustav Klimt.
Frequently asked questions
Where is the portrait of Elisabeth Bachofen-Echt today?
It is in a private collection. On 18 November 2025 it was sold at Sotheby’s in New York to a bidder on the telephone, so it is not on view in a museum. If you want to live with this composition, our version, painted by hand in oil on canvas, brings it to your own wall in the size you choose.
How much did the Bachofen-Echt portrait sell for?
It sold for 236.4 million US dollars at Sotheby’s in New York on 18 November 2025, the highest auction price ever paid for a Klimt. The bidding lasted about 20 minutes before a telephone bidder won. Before the sale it belonged to the American collector Leonard Lauder. Our hand-painted version costs a small fraction of that.
Who was Elisabeth Bachofen-Echt?
She was Elisabeth Lederer, daughter of the Viennese collectors August and Serena Lederer, who were among Klimt’s greatest patrons. Her parents commissioned this portrait in 1914, when she was about twenty. In 1921 she married Baron Wolfgang von Bachofen-Echt, which gave the painting its usual title. She died in 1944.
Why are there Chinese figures behind Elisabeth Bachofen-Echt?
Because Klimt drew on East Asian art in his late portraits. The figures come from Chinese material culture and Peking opera: soldiers, scholars and courtiers. Klimt owned ukiyo-e prints, kimonos and Qing court robes. Behind the young woman in white they form a colourful, lively wall that makes her look even calmer.
How did the Bachofen-Echt portrait survive the war?
It was seized in 1938, after the Anschluss, and it survived the Second World War. Unlike many works from the Lederer family’s collection, it was not taken to Immendorf Castle, where those paintings burned in 1945. Today it is in a private collection, after its sale at auction in New York in 2025.
Which size of the Bachofen-Echt portrait suits my wall?
For a narrow wall or a hallway, choose 60 x 90 or 70 x 100 cm. Above a sideboard or sofa, 80 x 110 or 90 x 130 cm works well, and for a large wall 100 x 140 or 110 x 160 cm. At 126 x 180 cm the figure is about life-size, as in the original; 150 x 210 cm suits a high wall.
Which room suits the Bachofen-Echt portrait?
It suits a living room, a dining room, a bedroom or an entrance hall, anywhere with enough height for a tall figure. As a canvas painting it looks especially good on white, pale grey or soft blue walls and with light wood or brass. In a hallway choose 70 x 100 cm; above a sofa, 100 x 140 cm.
Is the Bachofen-Echt portrait a good gift?
Yes, for anyone who loves Klimt, Vienna around 1900, elegant portraits or the story of a famous painting. The calm white figure suits most homes, and the record sale gives it a talking point. If you are unsure of the size, 80 x 110 cm is a safe choice, or give a voucher so they can choose themselves.
How does Elisabeth Bachofen-Echt differ from Friederike Maria Beer?
Elisabeth Bachofen-Echt is calmer and taller: a full-length young woman in white against a blue-violet wall of small East Asian figures. Friederike Maria Beer is warmer and busier, a figure shown to the knee in a zig-zag jacket before a Korean battle scene. Both are late portraits, so they also hang well together as a pair.
- Subject: Elisabeth Lederer, later Baroness Bachofen-Echt, in a white dress and floral chiffon shawl before a wall of East Asian figures.
- Original: 1914–1916, oil on canvas, 130.5 x 180.4 cm, private collection.
- Ours: a Klimt reproduction painted by hand in oil on canvas, in eight upright sizes or made to measure.
- Worth knowing: you receive a photograph of the finished work for approval before dispatch.
