Pablo Picasso’s portraits of three different lovers raised 42.2 million pounds ($68.5 million) last night in London as collectors of the Spanish artist battled for paintings and led demand for 20th-century artworks.
Christie’s International’s three-hour auction of modern and Impressionist art totaled 140 million pounds, including 40 lots from the estate of the Swiss art dealer Ernst Beyeler, who died last year. The Basel-based gallerist’s material contributed 44.7 million pounds with only one piece failing to sell -- a Claude Monet water-lily painting.
“The market is strong,” the New York-based dealer Tony Shafrazi said. “The media is panicking about the economy, and yet there’s a lot of hidden money out there.”
Picasso is the world’s most heavily traded modern artist at auction. Wealthy investment-conscious collectors looking for a hedge against recession are attached to his trophy works, particularly when they depict his lovers. The 1932 painting of Marie-Therese Walter, “Nude, Green Leaves and Bust” fetched $106.5 million -- the most for any artwork at auction -- at Christie’s, New York, in May 2010.
A 1939 painting of Dora Maar, “Femme assise, robe bleue,” showing Picasso’s lover on a chair sporting a purple hat, sold yesterday for 18 million pounds, against an estimate of 4 million pounds to 8 million pounds. It had been acquired by the seller’s family from Beyeler in about 1968.
The new buyer was the Swiss-based Greek collector Dimitri Mavrommatis, bidding by telephone to Thomas Seydoux, Christie’s international head of Impressionist and modern art, the auction house said after the sale.
Marie, Dora
Two lots earlier, the London-based dealer Alan Hobart of the Pyms Gallery paid 13.5 million pounds for Picasso’s 1935 painting “Jeune fille endormie,” showing the artist’s mistress Walter snoozing on her folded arms.
Valued at 9 million pounds to 12 million pounds, the canvas was sold by an anonymous owner who is donating proceeds to the University of Sydney to fund medical research.
“The Maar was the best of tonight’s Picassos,” said Guy Jennings, partner in London-based dealers Theobald Jennings. “The market is sane and solid, and slightly stronger than it was in May in New York.” Jennings was one of several dealers who noticed Asian clients bidding on “entry level” works by modern masters. A Picasso print priced at 67,250 pounds was one of 4 percent of the lots that went to Asian buyers. European bidders bought 54 percent of the works, with the remaining 42 percent falling to the U.S., said Christie’s.
