A painting made by the infamous abstract artist, Pablo Picasso, sold at a New York auction Monday May 11th for $179,365,000, said a Christie’s spokesperson.
The canvas painting was created by iconic artist in 1955 named “Les femmes d’Alger (Version “O”)”
Christie’s auction house estimated the price of the Picasso to sell no more than $140 million. Well were they surprised when a private buyer bought the painting for over $175 million. The seller remains anonymous.
The painting last sold in 1997 for $31.9 million; over a hundred million difference to what it was sold just 18 years later.
via Bebeto Mathews/AP
The artist’s “Three Studies of Lucian Freud” had been the most expensive painting before this one; selling for $142 million at a Francis Bacon’s auction in 2013.
There is a large designer for Picasso’s paintings and many of his works are still in private hands and not for sale.
Except of course billionaire hedge fund manager Steven Cohen who bought his
Le Reve” piece in a private sale with hotel magnate Steve Wynn for $155 million in 2013.
Picasso’s art works have become the center of the contemporary art auction on Monday and Wednesday May 13th.
Philip Hoffman, the chief executive of the Fine Art Fund Group, expects $2.5 billion worth of art to be sold.
The “Les Femmes d’Alger” painting that was sold is translated to , “The Women of Algiers.” The painting features nude courtesans, commonly painted by Picasso, in his iconic abstract cubist style.
The painter who died in 1973 would never imagine the popularity of his paintings; his only goal was to paint a homage for his friend and rival, a famous French impressionist, Henri Matisse.
Comment Template