AN oil and gold-encrusted portrait by Gustav Klimt has been purchased for a record-breaking amount by a New York museum.

AUSTRIA’S culture minister yesterday agreed to abide by a court ruling and give up ownership of five Gustav Klimt paintings worth over €125 million to a Californian woman whose family had them stolen by the Nazis.

Austria’s culture minister today agreed to abide by a court ruling and give up ownership of five precious Gustav Klimt paintings to a California woman who says the Nazis stole them from her Jewish family.

John Malkovich is to play the part of Austrian painter Gustav Klimt in a film about the artist's turbulent life.