Picasso’s painting "Naked, Green Leaves and Bust" sold at Christie’s auction for $ 106.5 million Automatic translate

Picasso’s painting “Naked, Green Leaves and Bust”, painted by him in 1932, was sold at Christies auction for $ 106.5 million, which amounted to a new, absolute, record for the price of an object of art ever sold at auction.

The pre-auction value of the painting was approximately $ 70 to $ 90 million. The auction took place on Tuesday evening. The identity of the buyer who conducted the bidding by phone is not disclosed.

Bidding lasted only nine minutes. Eight bidders were both in the auction room, and participated remotely, by telephone, according to the Christies press service. After the mark of $ 88 million, only two bidders remained. The last rate was $ 95 million, but the future owner of the painting increased the cost to $ 106.5 million.

Conor Jordan, head of the Impressionism and Contemporary Art department at Christies auction house in New York, said he was more than happy with the auction results. “The stunning results of tonight showed that the masterpieces of world art are not only in demand on the market, but are also welcomed with great enthusiasm and enthusiasm,” he said.

The extraordinary work of Picasso - a picture in which he portrayed his mistress and muse, Marie-Teresa Walter, was previously exhibited in the United States only once, in 1961 in Los Angeles, on the day when Pablo Picasso turned 80 years old. The picture, the dimensions of which is slightly more than 150 centimeters wide and 120 in height, depicts a lying nude and the artist himself, looking at her.

Previously, the painting belonged to a California philanthropist, the late Frances Lasker Brody, who acquired Picasso in the 1950s. Since then, the picture was kept in her family.

Some of the proceeds from the auction will go to the Huntington Library of the Museum of Art and Botanical Gardens located in San Marino, California. Brody herself took an active part in the life of this institution.

The previous auction price record for the subject of art belonged to Alberto Giacometti’s Walking Man sculpture, which was sold on February 3 this year for $ 104.4 million at a Sotheby’s auction in London. The second largest amount proposed for the work of Picasso - “Boy with a pipe” at Sotheby’s auction in London reached $ 104.2 million.

In the coming days, another, almost unknown work by Picasso will be put up for sale at Sotheby’s auction house. "Bust of a Woman in a Hat", written in 1965, which depicts an inspired Jacqueline Rock, the last love of Pablo Picasso. According to preliminary estimates, the price of the painting will be from $ 8 to $ 12 million. Over the past 50 years, the painting was in the apartments of Patricia Kennedy Lawford in Manhattan, the sister of former US President John F. Kennedy. The painting is for sale by its heir.