5 most expensive paintings by Pablo Picasso
Picasso’s canvases rank first in “popularity” among the kidnappers and beat all records for sale at auctions. By the way, most recently, in May of this year, one of his paintings again headed the list of the most expensive works of art – it was sold for an unprecedented 179.3 million dollars!
Algerian women, 1955
Sold for $ 179.3 million. 05/11/2015
5 most expensive paintings by Pablo Picasso
Picasso created a series of paintings by ALGERIAN WOMEN based on the famous painting by Eugene Delacroix in 1834. Total – 15 variations, which are alphabetically listed as Version AO. In 1956, a year after writing, all of it for $ 212 thousand, bought Victor Ganz, a famous collector of modern art. Eleven works from a series of Algerian women were sold by Sally and Viktor Ghantsev during the latter’s life to museums and private hands, and the remaining four works, including the final Version O, were sold after the death of both Ghantsevs. In particular, the picture Algerian women, Version O, went for $ 32 million. In May 2015, the picture was again auctioned by Christie, and this time she broke all records – was sold for $ 179 million, becoming the most expensive Picasso picture, as well as the world’s most expensive piece of art ever sold at auction.
Nude, green leaves and bust, 1932
sold for $ 106.5 million 05/05/2010
5 most expensive paintings by Pablo Picasso
One of the famous series of surrealistic paintings of 1932, in which Pablo Picasso intricately transformed his new beloved Marie-Thérez Walter.
A series of portraits of the sleeping Marie-Theresa as the goddess of sex and desire was made by the artist in secret from his wife, Olga Khokhlova, while staying with her friend in Bouazhela near Paris.
In 1936, the canvas acquired the New York dealer Paul Rosenberg, after which in 1951 it was sold to private ownership of the American developer Sidney F. Brody.
After the death of Brody, the painting in March 2010 was put up for auction by Christie’s auction house and subsequently sold to an unknown collector for $ 106,482,500 (including premium auctioneers). At that time, it became the most expensive work of art ever sold at auction.
The boy with a pipe, 1905
sold for $ 104.1 million 04.05.2004
5 most expensive paintings by Pablo Picasso
A painting by the 24-year-old painter Pablo Picasso in 1905, painted in the Bato Lavoir dorm in Montmartre, in the so-called pink period of his work. She depicts an unknown boy in a wreath of roses, holding a tube in his left hand.
The portrait has long served as the “nail” of the collection of American collector J. Whitney. When the collection was sold in 2004, the Boy with the Pipe was sold at Sotheby’s for a record price of $ 104 million at that time, beating Van Gogh’s Portrait of Dr. Gachet, which was held for 15 years.
This record lasted 6 years, until May 2010.
Dora Maar with a cat 1941
Sold for $ 95.2 million. 03.05.2006
5 most expensive paintings by Pablo Picasso
Dora Maar, who for almost ten years was the muse of the artist, model and mistress. The portrait was painted in 1941 in the workshop of Picasso on the streets of the Great Augustins in Paris occupied by the Germans, when the relationship between the lovers had already given a substantial crack. Picasso used this portrait in abstract forms as a means of expressing his inner feelings. Later, the artist admitted that at the time of writing the picture, Dora became for him the “personification of war”.
In 1946, the first owner of the portrait of “Dora Maar with a cat” becomes influential Paris dealer Pierre Colle. In 1947, leading collectors from Chicago Lee and Mary Block buy a portrait from Pierre Colle. According to Blok’s verbal statements, he paid $ 15,000. From July 1, 1963, another couple from Chicago, Adel and Willard Djidwitz, will be the owners. After that, the picture did not appear to the public for about 40 years. And on May 3, 2006, the Cotbis auction house exhibited a portrait for sale with an estimated value of $ 50 – $ 70 million. Exceeding all expectations, the portrait of “Dora Maar with a cat” went under the hammer for $ 95,216,000. Lucky was the Georgian political and statesman Bidzina Ivanishvili Grigorievich.
Bust of a woman (woman in a hair net), 1938
sold for $ 67.4 million. 05/11/2015
5 most expensive paintings by Pablo Picasso
This very bright and colorful portrait of Dora Maar was painted by Picasso at the height of their relationship in Paris on January 12, 1938.
Picasso’s reaction to her nervous nature was superimposed on the artist’s general feeling of the rise of pre-war moods, and then of the nightmares of war — and in the history of the arts, such a phenomenon as broken, twisted images of Dora appeared.
The life history of the picture could not be found. It is only known that it was sold at auction in New York in May of this year for more than 67 million dollars.