Picasso portrait sells for $95m
2006-05-04 09:23
Christopher Michaud
New York - Picasso's 1941 portrait of his mistress, Dora Maar with cat, sold for an astounding $95m at Sotheby's on Wednesday, becoming the second-most expensive painting in auction history.
The vibrant, large-scale work depicts Maar, the surrealist
photographer Picasso was romantically involved with for a
decade, seated in a chair with a small cat perched on the
back.
It had been expected to sell for upwards of $40m,
but the winning bid of $95 216 000, including commission,
caught even Sotheby's officials by surprise.
"I was hoping for 70-plus," said David Norman, Sotheby's
co-chair of Impressionist and modern art, after the sale. "We
thought it was worth more, and we were right."
Surprise
Even Tobias Meyer, the usually unflappable auctioneer,
admitted he was surprised when the bidding passed $65m.
"The energy in the room was incredible," he said. "There's
just a very clear, strong demand for the kind of intense
painting with an emotional pull that the Picasso represents;
things that are made for our times,"
'Tremendous pool of money out there'
Given a less-than robust economy, Norman said he was
"surprised, thrilled and grateful," at the sale's result, "but I
wasn't expecting a poor sale. We knew there's a tremendous pool
of money out there," he said.
The auction of Impressionist and modern art brought in a
total of $207 564 800, it's third-highest sales figure ever,
Sotheby's said.
"I didn't dare hope we'd do this well," said Norman.
Other works
Two works owned by disgraced Tyco head Dennis Kozlowski and
being sold by court order to offset fines and restitution also
achieved solid prices. Monet's Near Monte-Carlo (Cape Martin:
The point) sold for just over $5m, while Renoir's
Flowers and fruit went for just over $2.8m.
The sale's other high points included a new record for a
Matisse which sold for $18 496 000 and several other Picassos.
They included Harlequin with baton which sold for $10 096 000 and Woman seated in an armchair, which fetched $6 736 000.
World record
The world record for any art sold at auction is held by
another Picasso, Boy with a pipe, which Sotheby's sold two
years ago for $104m.
The second-highest price before Wednesday was van Gogh's Portrait of Dr Gachet at $82.5m, which sold in 1990.
- Reuters