A painting that helped save the life of its Jewish subject during the Holocaust has become the most expensive piece of modern art and the second most expensive painting ever sold at auction.

The Portrait of Elisabeth Lederer, by Austrian artist Gustav Klimt, was bought for $236.4m (£180m) by an unnamed buyer after a 20-minute bidding war at Sotheby’s in New York on Tuesday.

Its sale price beat the previous record for 20th-century art set by Andy Warhol’s Shot Sage Blue Marilyn, a portrait of Marilyn Monroe bought for $195m (£148m) in 2022.

The most expensive painting ever sold at auction was Leonardo da Vinci’s Salvator Mundi, which fetched $450m (£342m) in 2017, Christie’s said on its website.

Sotheby’s said on X the price for the Klimt was “astonishing”, making the piece “the most valuable work of modern art ever sold at auction”.

The portrait, which Klimt worked on between 1914 and 1916, depicts the daughter of one of Vienna’s wealthiest families wearing an East Asian emperor’s cloak.

Evaded fire and Nazi looters

Measuring 1.8m (6ft), the colourful piece, which was completed in 1916, illustrates the Lederer family’s life of luxury before Nazi Germany annexed Austria in 1938.

It was kept separate from other Klimt paintings that burned in a fire at an Austrian castle.

It also escaped being looted by the Nazis, who plundered the Lederer art collection.

They left only the family portraits, which they held to be “too Jewish” to be worth stealing, according to the National Gallery of Canada, where the painting was previously on loan.

Father lie saved her life

To save her own life, Elisabeth Lederer made up a story that Klimt, who was not Jewish and died in 1918, was her father.

It helped that the artist spent years working meticulously on her portrait.

She convinced the Nazis to give her a document stating that she descended from Klimt, which allowed her to live safely in Vienna until her death from illness in 1944.

The painting, which is one of two full-length portraits by the Austrian artist that remain privately owned, was part of the collection of billionaire Leonard A Lauder, heir to the Estée Lauder cosmetics empire, who died this year.

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Five Klimt pieces from Lauder’s collection sold at the auction for a total of $392m (£298m), which also included pieces by Vincent van Gogh, Henri Matisse and Edvard Munch, Sotheby’s said.

An 18-carat-gold toilet by Maurizio Cattelan – the provocative Italian artist known for taping a banana to a wall – sold for a reported $12.1m (£9.2m).

The fully-functioning toilet, one of two he created in 2016 satirising superwealth, was stolen while on display at Blenheim Palace, the country manor where Winston Churchill was born, in 2019.

Two men were convicted of the theft, but it’s unclear what they did with the loo.

Investigators believe it was likely broken up and melted down.

The Kessler Twins, German sisters famous across Europe for their singing and dancing, have died together through assisted means, local police have said.

Content warning: this article contains references to suicide

Munich officers said in a statement on Tuesday that Alice and Ellen Kessler had died by “joint suicide” at their shared home in Grunwald. They were 89.

The German Society for Humane Dying, a group in support of assisted dying, told Sky’s US partner network NBC News that the sisters had “been considering this option for some time”.

It added they had been members for more than a year and that “a lawyer and a doctor conducted preliminary discussions with them”, and said: “People who choose this option in Germany must be absolutely clear-headed, meaning free and responsible.

“The decision must be thoughtful and consistent, meaning made over a long period of time and not impulsive.”

In an interview last year with the Italian news outlet Corriere della Sera, the sisters said they wished to die together on the same day.

Read more: Why is assisted dying so controversial – and where is it already legal?

A ban on assisted dying in Germany was overturned by the country’s federal court in 2020.

While the practice is not explicitly permitted, judges said at the time the previous law outlawing it infringed on constitutional rights.

Alice and Ellen were born in 1936 and trained as ballet dancers in their youth. They began their entertainment careers in the 1950s after their family fled from East Germany to West Germany.

Professionally known as The Kessler Twins, they were then discovered by the director of the Lido cabaret theatre in Paris in 1955, launching their international career.

In 1959, the sisters also represented a now-unified Germany at the Eurovision Song Contest, held in Cannes, France.

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Throughout the 1960s, Alice and Ellen toured the world, moved to Rome, and performed with singers Fred Astaire, Frank Sinatra and Harry Belafonte.

Both sisters continued to perform together into later life, appearing on stage in a musical at 80 years old.

Anyone feeling emotionally distressed or suicidal can call Samaritans for help on 116 123 or email jo@samaritans.org in the UK.

In the US, call the Samaritans branch in your area or 1 (800) 273-TALK

Actor Anna Maxwell Martin and a group of parents have warned that primary school tests have “devastating effects” for children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND).

They have written an open letter to the government asking ministers to consider reforming SATs (standard assessment tests) to accommodate the youngsters’ needs.

The 22 parent groups say the system is damaging for children with SEND and they want to see a more inclusive approach which incorporates the needs of the individual child.

The letter to Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson said the current system “actively harms” children with SEND, leaving them often disengaged from school as they move on to secondary school.

Maxwell Martin, who has starred in TV comedy Motherland and police drama Line Of Duty, said: “The government needs to look much harder at how to make things better for children in schools, particularly children with SEND.

“This is a systemic failing within our assessment system, not the fault of any individual teacher or headteacher.”

What has research found?

Research by the SEND parent group said only 24% of SEND children passed the SATs, and 67% of SEND children did not want to attend school because of them.

Half of the parents questioned also said their child’s self-esteem was damaged, and they believed SATs would have a lasting negative impact.

‘Change the system’

The letter to Ms Phillipson said: “Forcing children into a system that actively harms them is not the answer. Changing the system so that our children want to attend is.”

But some think SATs do not serve any child.

Lee Parkinson MBE, a primary school teacher and education consultant from Manchester, said SATs are a negative process for all children, not just children with SEND.

He told Sky News: “SATs don’t serve any child, let alone those with SEND. They were never designed to support learning.”

He called the tests a “blunt accountability tool, a stick to beat schools with, rather than something that helps teachers understand children”.

‘Speed rewarded over understanding’

Mr Parkinson claimed SATs were “built to catch pupils out. They reward speed over understanding and memorisation over genuine thinking”.

“That alone disadvantages huge numbers of children, but for pupils with SEND the gap becomes a chasm. Processing speed, anxiety, sensory needs, working memory difficulties, language disorders… none of these are accounted for in a system that measures every child by the same stopwatch and mark scheme.”

Mr Parkinson added: “For many SEND pupils, success in school looks like communication gains, emotional regulation, confidence, independence and steady academic growth in a way that matches their needs.

“SATs don’t measure any of that. Instead, they label, limit and distort the reality of what progress actually looks like for the children who need thoughtful, personalised provision the most.”

The open letter also said children with SEND who failed SATs “spend their entire year 6 convinced they are not clever enough”.

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‘Urgent need for rethink’

Sarah Hannafin, head of policy at school leaders’ union NAHT, said there is an “urgent need” for the government to rethink the value of SATs.

“If statutory tests are here to stay, they must be designed to be accessible for the vast majority of pupils, they should recognise the attainment and progress of all children, and they should not damage children’s confidence or cause distress,” she said.

What does the government say?

A Department for Education spokesperson said: “Primary tests and assessments play a vital role in helping schools ensure every pupil can achieve and thrive, while also identifying those who need additional support.”

“The government’s independent, expert-led Curriculum and Assessment Review panel shaped key recommendations aimed at improving our national curriculum, and included key insights from SEND experts.

“We are actively working with parents and experts to improve support for children with SEND, including through more early intervention to prevent needs from escalating and investing £740 million to encourage councils to create more specialist places in mainstream schools.”