Picasso painting, owned by Calif. art patron, fetches world record $106.5M at NYC auction
By APTuesday, May 4, 2010
Picasso sells at NYC auction for record $106.5M
NEW YORK — A 1932 Pablo Picasso painting of his mistress has sold at a New York City auction for a world record $106.5 million.
“Nude, Green Leaves and Bust” sold at Christie’s on Tuesday evening to an unidentified telephone bidder. Its pre-sale estimate was up to $90 million.
The striking work of Marie-Therese Walter had been exhibited in the United States only once, in 1961 in Los Angeles to commemorate the 80th anniversary of Picasso’s birth.
The painting belonged to the late California art patron Frances Lasker Brody, who bought it in the 1950s. Part of the sale proceeds will benefit the Huntington Library, Art Collections and Botanical Gardens in San Marino, Calif., where she was on the board.
The previous record for a work of art at auction was $104.3 million for a sculpture by Alberto Giacometti on Feb. 3.
