Picasso painting of lover, 10 other works fetch over US$100 million at auction
- The Sotheby’s auction took place two days before the 140th birthday of the Spanish artist on October 25
- It was part of a bid by hotel group MGM Resorts to further diversify its collection to include more art from women, people of colour, LGBT and disabled artists
Eleven Pablo Picasso paintings and other works that helped turn the US city of Las Vegas into an unlikely destination for art were sold at auction for more than US$100 million.
The Sotheby’s auction was held at the Bellagio hotel in Las Vegas, where the works had been on display for years, and took place two days before the 140th birthday of the Spanish artist on October 25.
Five of the paintings had hung on the walls of the Bellagio’s fine dining restaurant, Picasso. The restaurant will continue to display 12 other Picasso works.
The highest price was fetched by the 1938 painting, Femme au beret rouge-orange, of Picasso’s lover and muse Marie-Therese Walter, which sold for US$40.5 million, some US$10 million over the high presale estimate.
The large-scale portraits Homme et Enfant and Buste d’homme sold for US$24.4 million and US$9.5 million respectively, while smaller works on ceramic, like Le Dejeuner sur l’herbe which sold for US$2.1 million, went for three or four times their presale estimate.