Posted on 05/16/2021 1:46:36 AM PDT by nickcarraway
An oil painting by Pablo Picasso sold for $103.4 million at a Christie's auction in New York, smashing its presale estimate of $55 million.
The portrait of Picasso's French lover Marie-Therese, "Femme assise près d'une fenêtre (Marie-Thérèse)", or 'Woman sitting near a window,' led the '20th Century Evening Sale' on Thursday.
Keith Gill, head of the Impressionist and Modern Art department at Christie's London, said the work may be familiar to art lovers from its appearance at a landmark Picasso 1932 exhibition at the Tate Modern in 2018.
"It's an incredibly iconic image. It hasn't been seen up at auction since 2013. And the appreciation of Marie-Therese portraits, particularly from 1932, has very much grown since that time.
pablo2 A gallery worker poses alongside an artwork by Spanish painter Pablo Picasso during a photocall at Christie’s auction house in central London.
So this will be a stand-out price for the artist," said Gill.
After an intense bidding war, the Picasso was snapped up by an online bidder in California, Christie's said.
Thursday's auction, which was streamed live from the Rockefeller Center, marked the fifth work by the Spanish painter to have sold for more than $100 million.
I actually really like Picasso. I can’t afford them so I just paint copies in acrylics and then frame and hang them. I have three in my foyer. At one time I thought about doing that one to go with one called woman sleeping. But then I got into painting cats. 😆
Looks like todays woke Karen
Art is in the eye of the beholder. Go to a Jean Moreau exhibit sometime. I went to one where all his sculptures had an egg in them. One piece was a wooden crate turned upside down with a white sculpted egg sitting on top. Some people find it fascinating. 🤔
Art is in the eye of the beholder.
Good bait isn’t always required for a big catch.
At this price level, it’s not about art or aesthetics in the least, it’s about investing.
Didn’t I read somewhere that Picasso once admitted he did not have the talent of a Velasquez, Rembrandt or Goya, but that he did what he could...........especially in deconstructing art.
“if this painting were destroyed what would the world be missing out on?”
NAFT.
I went to the Picasso museum in Japan. There was not a single object of beauty—or even interest—anywhere on the grounds.
Run, hide
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