Picasso painting sells for over $103mn in New York auction

Pablo Picasso’s Woman Sitting Near a Window (Marie-Therese) [Femme assise près d’une fenêtre (Marie-Thérèse)] sold on Thursday for $103.4mn at Christie’s in New York, the auction house said.
The painting, completed in 1932, was sold after 19 minutes of bidding for $90mn, which rose to $103.4mn when fees and commissions were added, Christie’s said.
Christie’s had estimated the painting – bought by an online bidder in California – would sell for $55mn.
The sale confirms the vitality of the art market despite the coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic – but also the special status of Picasso, who was born in 1881 and died in 1973.
The generally good performance of Thursday’s auctions, totalling $481mn, “signals a real return to normal and also a message that the art market is really back on track”, said Bonnie Brennan, president of Christie’s America.
The painting, depicting Picasso’s young mistress and muse, Marie-Therese Walter, was acquired only eight years ago at a London sale for £28.6mn (about $44.8mn), less than half the price offered on Thursday.
Five works by the Spanish painter have now crossed the symbolic threshold of $100mn.
Even before this sale, he was already alone at the top of this very exclusive club with four paintings, including Women of Algiers, which holds the record for a Picasso, at $179.4mn in 2015.
This is the first time in two years that a work has broken the $100mn mark since an 1890 Claude Monet Meules painting reached $110.7mn at Sotheby’s, also in New York.
The year 1932, when Picasso painted Woman Sitting Near a Window, is often considered the most productive period of his career and many major exhibits of his works have been devoted to that single year.
Women painters also fared well at the Christie’s auction on Wednesday, with several works sold setting artist records.
“We saw incredible prices for female artists across the 20th century tonight,” said Emily Kaplan, co-head of the 20th Century Evening Sale.
“Barbara Hepworth and Grace Hartigan achieved new records. Alice Neel, who is having a real market moment and an exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, doubled her previous auction record,” she said.