An Update on the Sale of Three Schieles to Bankroll “Adele”

In an e-mail yesterday, responding to queries that I had sent, Scott Gutterman, deputy director of the Neue Galerie, said that the three Schieles being sold at Christie’s to help fund the museum’s purchase of its celebrated Klimt “were owned by [Ronald] Lauder and donated to the Neue Galerie.”
That means that the museum is the consignor. And that raises some additional questions on which I am now seeking further clarification from Gutterman.
What does seem clear is that the Neue Galerie is sacrificing works that it deemed worthy of public exhibition just months ago, in the museum’s 2005-2006 exhibition, “Egon Schiele: The Ronald S. Lauder and Serge Sabarsky Collections.”
The three Schieles, estimated to bring $35-45 million, are being auctioned the same night as the four other Klimts that were returned by Austria to the Bloch-Bauer heirs along with “Adele Bloch-Bauer I” (for which the Neue Galerie reportedly paid $135 million). Christie’s has guaranteed an undisclosed amount to the Klimt consignors, even if the bidding falls short. The four Klimts are estimated to sell for a total of $93-135 million.
In reply to my query about whether the Neue Galerie may bid on any of these four, Gutterman said:
The other works are certainly of interest, but there are no specific plans to acquire them.