A Pablo Picasso painting was sold for more than 139 million (Rs 1,150 crore) at an auction by Sotheby's in New York on Wednesday. The painting called "Femme a la montre," (Woman With A Watch) was projected to be sold for 120 million, but went for a higher price.
This is the second highest ever price paid for a Picasso painting, the highest being a painting called "Les femmes d'Alger," that was sold for over 179 million in 2015.
The 1932 painting depicts one of the Spanish artist's companions and muses, the French painter Marie-Therese Walter, and had been valued at over $120 million before going on the block, according to Sotheby's.
The painting is part of Sotheby's special sale this week of the collection of the wealthy New York patron of the arts Emily Fisher Landau, who died this year at the age of 102.
"Painted in 1932 -- Picasso's 'annus mirabilis' -- it is full of joyful, passionate abandon yet at the same time it is utterly considered and resolved," Julian Dawes, the the house's head of impressionist and modern art, said.
Sotheby's also sold another painting in 2021 featuring Walter for 103 million. Sotheby's is hoping to net around $400 million in sales for pieces from Landau's collection, which also includes works by Jasper Johns, Willem de Kooning, Mark Rothko and Andy Warhol.
(With inputs from AFP).
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