Estée Lauder heir donates gallery and $135mn Klimt to Met

Leonard Lauder, heir to the Estée Lauder fortune, has donated a gallery and Gustav Klimt's $135 million painting to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. The gift includes a new gallery space for the museum's collection of Austrian and German art, as well as the 1907 portrait "Adele Bloch-Bauer II," one of Klimt's most famous works. Lauder, a longtime Met trustee and philanthropist, acquired the painting in 2006 for a reported $135 million, then a record price. The donation significantly enhances the Met's holdings of early 20th-century Viennese art. The gallery, named the Leonard A. Lauder Gallery, will display works from the museum's existing collection alongside the Klimt. Lauder's gift is part of a broader trend of major donations to US museums, following tax incentives and philanthropic traditions. The Met plans to install the painting in its new gallery, which is expected to open in 2025.