A Million Dollar Monday at Christie's, Picasso Painting Sets Auction Record, Sold at $179.4 Million

A Million Dollar Monday at Christie's, Picasso Painting sets auction record, sold at $179.4 million

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The overloaded Art market is growing hectically and is raking in cash due to the elevated prices driven by the artworks investment value and by new collectors hunting for the best art out there. Modern art and impressionist pieces are still the all time favorites for their proven value and accessibility.

Last week Monday, Christie's offered in a curated sale titled "Looking Forward to the Past", dozens of 20th century masterpieces among which, Picasso's Women of Algiers (Version O) now known as the worlds most expensive artwork ever auctioned. Picasso’s long list of accomplishments is still growing even 42 years after his death in 1973. The vibrant, multi-hued masterpiece completed in 1955 has just destroyed all records, being sold at the astonishing price of $160 million USD. This amount however is excluding the commission that auction house Christie’s in New York took of $19.35 million USD, bringing the grand total to $179.35 million USD. However, the multi-millionaire buyer elected to remain anonymous and so far the buyers name has not surfaced in the media. Christie’s had valued the Picasso at $140 million USD, making it also the highest presale estimate of any work of art. Therefor it came as no surprise that the Picasso surpassed the record piece sold at an auction in November 2013 by Francis Bacon, Three Studies of Lucien Freud, taking in a whopping $142.4 million USD. However Off the auction block, there were reports that a Gauguin sold for as much as $300 million USD.

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The Spanish artist distinguished this adaptation of the painting; Les Femmes d’Alger as Version O, to individualize it from 14 other paintings of the same name. Illustrating a group of courtesans, the Picasso painting is based on Eugene Delacroix’s work of a similar title “Les Femmes d’Alger dans leur appartment”. Picasso used this group of 15 paintings to explored the theme, allocated the versions from A to O Featuring his distinct Cubist shapes and aesthetic, as well as the signature use of bright colors. Picasso was also paying tribute to his friend and rival, Henri Matisse who past away 1 year before the completion of Version O.