Picasso painting auctioned for $103 million in New York

A painting by the Spanish painter Pablo Picasso has been sold in New York for more than 103 million dollars (almost 85 million euros). Christie’s auction house announced this on Friday evening. The auction house estimated in advance that the work, which last changed hands in 2013, would yield around 46 million euros.

It’s about the oil painting Woman seated near a window (Marie-Thérèse) from 1932, a portrait of Picasso’s then-lover Marie-Thérèse Walter. The canvas is 146 by 114 centimeters and shows the woman sitting on a chair in light and bright colours. According to Reuters news agency, the buyer is an art collector from California, who could call himself the owner of the work after a bid of less than twenty minutes. The auction took place on Thursday.

Woman seated near a window (Marie-Thérèse) is Picasso’s fifth work ever to go under the hammer for more than $100 million. During the auction on Thursday, the painting was further The Trinquetaille bridge by Vincent van Gogh sold for almost 31 million euros, and also a Piet Mondrian (Composition: No. II, with Yellow, Red and Blue) for 21.6 million euros.

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