In major auction night, rare Klimt painting smashes records at $236.4 million

By Jacqui Palumbo, CNN (CNN) — What does a notorious gold toilet and a nearly destroyed Klimt painting have in common? They christened Sotheby’s first sale out of its new US headquarters in New York on Tuesday evening in a buzzy, record-breaking night. Early on, the headlining artwork by Gustav Klimt, “Portrait of Elisabeth Lederer,”