A visitor to the Convention and Exhibition Centre gets a rare chance to study Pablo Picasso's Dora Maar au Chat, which Sotheby's conservatively estimates will fetch US$50 million when it is sold in New York next month.
It is on show in Hong Kong until Saturday. The portrait of Dora Maar, Picasso's long-time lover and muse, was painted in 1941 at the height of their tempestuous relationship, and has not been seen in public for more than 40 years. It shows the artist's most mysterious and challenging mistress posing in a large chair with a black cat perched behind her.
It is the highlight of the auction house's spring sale of Impressionist, modern and contemporary art, and is mirrored by another Picasso gem being offered by Christie's, Le Repos.