Hollywood legend Barbra Streisand has publicly expressed deep regret over selling a valuable Gustav Klimt painting she once owned, sharing her remorse on Instagram following record-breaking auction results for another Klimt work. The singer and actress posted an archival photograph showing herself with Klimt's 1912 "Portrait of Ria Munk on her Deathbed," along with two works by Egon Schiele, accompanied by the advice: "Never sell art you love."
Streisand revealed that an assistant had compiled a book of artworks she had previously owned and sold, prompting her reflection on past decisions. She purchased the Klimt painting in 1969 for $17,000, which "seemed like a lot of money at the time." The renowned collector and investor explained that she sold the work in 1998 because her interests had shifted toward the works of architect Frank Lloyd Wright and the Arts and Crafts movement.
"Oh, how I regret selling it! As it says on the cover of the book, you should never sell art you love," Streisand wrote in her Instagram post, which was picked up by several media outlets. Her candid admission highlights the emotional attachment collectors can develop to significant artworks and the lasting regret that can follow their sale.
The painting itself carries a tragic backstory that adds to its artistic and historical significance. Ria Munk, born in 1887, was the daughter of Aranka Munk from the prominent Pulitzer family. Following a devastating love affair, Ria committed suicide on December 28, 1911. Klimt painted her portrait shortly afterward in early 1912, drawing inspiration from John Everett Millais' depiction of Ophelia—a motif that has recently gained renewed media attention through a Taylor Swift music video.
The Munk family's connection to Klimt extended beyond this single work, with a complex history involving Nazi art seizures. In 1916, Aranka Munk purchased a house in Bad Aussee, where another full-figure memorial portrait of her daughter hung. Klimt had painted this work, known as "Ria Munk III," in 1917 but never completed it. During the Nazi era, the villa was "Aryanized," and the painting was seized.
The stolen artwork eventually made its way through art dealer Wolfgang Gurlitt to the "New Gallery of the City of Linz," later known as the Lentos Museum, where its provenance history was suppressed for decades. The case only gained renewed attention in the early 2000s when provenance researchers, supported by testimony from a former household servant who had seen the painting in the Aussee villa, began investigating its origins.
After extensive legal proceedings, "Ria Munk III" was finally restituted from the Lentos collection in 2009. The following year, it was sold at Christie's London for 18.8 million pounds (approximately 23 million euros at the time). Billionaire Joe Lewis later revealed himself as the buyer of this particular work.
The current owner of Streisand's former "Ria Munk on her Deathbed" remains unknown to the public, with the painting listed in relevant catalogs simply as "private collection." Streisand's public regret about the sale serves as a cautionary tale for collectors about the lasting emotional value of meaningful artworks, even as the high-end art market continues to see record-breaking prices for works by masters like Klimt.
