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Pablo Picasso’s 1932 painting ‘Femme à la montre’ sold for more than $139 million (R2,6 billion) at a Sotheby’s New York auction last week, making it the most valuable work of art sold at auction this year.

The piece was a highlight of New York City’s fall art auction season, which many see as a barometer of the art market. It was auctioned off as part of the late philanthropist Emily Fisher Landau’s collection, which was valued at $400 million (R7,5 billion).

Landau, who began collecting after receiving an insurance settlement for a jewellery robbery at her home, bought the Picasso painting in 1968 at the start of her collecting journey. It has never before been offered at auction.

 

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The Spanish artist’s 1932 work depicts his lover and muse Marie-Therese Walter, who was 17 and he was 45 when they met in 1927. Picasso approached Walter during the unexpected encounter and exclaimed, “I am Picasso!” “You and I are going to accomplish amazing things together.”

Picasso, who was married to a Russian-Ukrainian ballerina named Olga Khokhlova at the time, made a series of paintings in 1932 announcing Walter’s presence in his life.

[source:abcnews]