Picasso painting sets new auction record
05 May 2010
A 1932 painting by Spanish master Pablo Picasso has been sold to an unidentified bidder for $106.5 million, which is now a new world record in the market for art. The sale was announced by auction house Christie's in New York.
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| Nude, Green Leaves and Bust |
Picasso's painting, "Nu au Plateau de Sculpteur" (Nude, Green Leaves and Bust), had been expected to go for $70- 90 million but rocketed past that figure to eclipse a record set in February this year, when Alberto Giacometti's "Walking Man I" sculpture sold in London for $104.3 million.
The sale also beat out a previous record of $104 million paid for another Picasso piece, "Garcon a la Pipe" in 2004.
Bidding for the painting, for which there were six bidders, apparently lasted 8 minutes and 6 seconds.
The final price of $106,482,500 included the auction house's commission.
The large painting auctioned last night was put on public exhibit just once since 1961, and has been described as the crown jewel of the collection of Frances Lasker Brody, a philanthropist from Los Angeles who died last year. It is considered a seminal work from one of the high points of Picasso's career.