Picasso's painting sells for $103 Million after 19 minutes of biding at Christie's

Pablo Picasso's painting 'Woman seated near a window (Marie-Therese) was sold for $103.4 million at Christie's on May 13. The auction house of New York made the announcement about the sale. The painting was sold after 19 minutes of a bidding war between six people, said the auction house.

Picasso's painting sold for $103.4 million 

The painting was sold to an online bidder in California for $103.4 million. The painting was inspired by Marie-Therese’s youthfulness and statuesque beauty and was made by Picasso on October 30, 1932. It is the first work since May 2019 to surpass the $100 million mark "signalling a continued appetite for modern masterpieces", said Vanessa Fusco, Co-Head of the 20th Century Evening Sale. 

We saw strong results for the masterpiece market tonight. Picasso’s jewel-toned depiction of Marie-Therese Walter was the top lot of evening, and the first work since May 2019 to surpass the $100 million benchmark, signalling a continued appetite for modern masterpieces.

Christie’s new 20th and 21st Century week started with its 21st Century Evening sale on May 11.  According to the official website, the auction streamed live from Rockefeller Center in New York and it fetched $481,114,000.  Also, it hammered 117 per cent above the low estimate and 94 per cent by lot.

Other paintings sold in the evening sale

A painting by Claude Monet’s Waterloo Bridge, effet de Brouillard was sold for $48,450,000 at Christie's on the same night. It was one of the first of Monet’s celebrated London Series to enter an American collection in 1905. A painting by Vincent van Gogh’s Le Pont de Trinquetaille was sold for $39,290,000. The painting depicts a tranquil scene of the Rhone’s curving embankments as seen from Arles, the landscapes that van Gogh painted during his 15 months stay in the South of France. A painting by Jean-Michel Basquiat, “In this Case" sold for $93.1 million in an auction on May 11 at Christie’s in New York.

(Image Credits: ChristiesInc/Twitter)