New Delhi: Two days before the 140th birthday of Spanish artist Pablo Picasso on October 25, as many as 11 of his paintings and other works fetched more than $100 million at an auction in Las Vegas on Saturday, reports said.
The works had been on display at the Bellagio hotel in Las Vegas for years, and the auction by Sotheby's and MGM Resorts Fine Art Collection was held at the same place on Saturday.
Five of the paintings sold at Saturday’s auction used to adorn the walls of the fine dining restaurant, Picasso, at the Bellagio hotel. Twelve other works of the artist will continue to remain on display at the restaurant.
1938 Painting Sold For $40.5 Million
A 1938 painting, "Femme au beret rouge-orange", which is of Picasso's lover and muse Marie-Therese Walter, fetched the highest price as it was sold for $40.5 million, around $10 million more than the pre-sale estimate. This work is considered to be one of the last great paintings of Marie-Thérèse Walter by Picasso.
Sotheby's did not disclose the names of the buyers of any of the works.
Large-scale portraits "Homme et Enfant" and "Buste d'homme" were auctioned at $24.4 million and $9.5 million, respectively, while a smaller work on ceramic, "Le Dejeuner sur l'herbe", was sold for $2.1 million.
Both “Homme et enfant” and “Buste d’homme” featured in the historic 1970 exhibition at the Palais des Papes in Avignon, according to Sotheby’s.
Also on the auction list were “Nature morte aux fleurs et au compotier” and “Nature morte au panier de fruits et aux fleurs” — two Cubist-inspired still lifes painted during Picasso’s period of isolation in Paris during World War II.
Saturday’s event, which Sothrby’s described as “first-of-its-kind marquee Evening Sale of masterworks by the iconic artist”, marked the largest fine art auction to ever take place in Las Vegas.