When it is auctioned off in London later this month, the last work by artist Gustav Klimt could bring in up to £65 million.
Its estimated value makes the portrait the most priceless painting ever put up for auction in Europe.
1918 saw the painting of the unidentified woman in The Dame mit Fächer (Lady with a Fan).
It was Klimt's final work and was discovered on an easel in his studio when he passed away suddenly.
The painting is a product of the Japonisme movement, which describes the influence of Japanese art and design on Western European artists. It is heavily influenced by Asia.
A number of Chinese symbols are also present, such as the phoenix, a representation of immortality and rebirth, and lotus blossoms, a symbol of love.
On July 14, 1862, Gustav Klimt, an Austrian symbolist painter, was born.
His "golden phase," in which his paintings frequently featured gold leaf, is when he was most successful and was regarded as an avant-garde artist.
Klimt celebrated the female body in his erotically charged art, which was frequently seen as controversial.
Other noteworthy pieces include the 1909 painting The Kiss and the Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer II (1912), which sold for $87,09,000,000 (or £69,55,000,000 at current exchange rates) in New York in November 2006.
Later artists, such as Egon Schiele, were greatly influenced by him.
The Lady with a Fan was painted entirely for Klimt's own interests, unlike many of his other portraits, and was not commissioned.
Head of impressionist and modern art sales at Sotheby's Thomas Boyd Bowman stated: "The beauty and sensuality of the portrait lies in the detail: the flecks of blue and pink which enliven the sitter's skin, the feathery lines of her eyelashes, and the pursed lips which give her face character.
"Klimt here allowed himself complete freedom to depict a heartbreakingly beautiful woman on canvas.
. "
