Sotheby's auction house in New York sold eight works by Pablo Picasso for a total of over $50 million, including ‘Femmes lisant (Deux Personnages)’ that fetched $21.36 million.
"The painting has a wavy quality and pastel tones, like all of Picasso's works from that epoch," Sotheby's head of impressionist and modern art, David Norman, told the media regarding the portrait that the artist painted in 1934 of his then-lover and muse, Marie-Therese Walter.
Also sold in the same auction were other works from the Spanish painter's various periods, some of which far exceeded the forecasts that had been made by Sotheby's officials, including the surrealist portrait ‘Femme’ (1930), which sold for $7.92 million, although it had been valued at between $3 million and $5 million.
Another portrait signed by Picaso (1881-1973) also captured the attention of buyers at the Tuesday auction in New York, namely ‘Fillette aux nattes et au chapeau vert’ (1956), a tender representation of his daughter Paloma.
The canvas, painted when the girl was 7 and the painter 74, went for $5.9 million, above its predicted value of between $3.5 million and $5 million.
Picasso's ‘Couple a la guitare’ (1970), which depicts intertwined lovers, sold for $9.6 million.
Among the works by other outstanding surrealist painters sold at the auction was a portrait of businesswomen Helena Rubinstein painted by Spanish artist Salvador Dali (1904-89) which sold for nearly $2.66 million, exceeding the initial calculation of its value of up to $1.5 million.