Picasso leads Sotheby’s London auction, February 2013

Pablo Picasso: “Femme assise près d’une fenêtre”, 1932
Sold for £28,601,250

Picasso leads Sotheby’s London auction, February 2013 Pablo Picasso’s ‘Femme assise près d’une fenêtre’ fetched £28,6 million at Sotheby’s London Impressionist and Modern Art Evening Sale on February 5, 2013. Works by Schiele, Monet and Miró achieved strong results.]]>

February 5th, 2013, source: Sotheby’s

Pablo Picasso’s “Femme assise près d’une fenêtre” (1932) was described by Sotheby’s as “one of the artist’s most iconic images and part of the defining series which introduced his ‘golden muse’ to the public eye“. The lot, which carried an estimate of £25-35 million, sold for £28,601,250.

Three great works by Egon Schiele coming from the Leopold Museum in Vienna also commanded strong prices. “Liebespaar (Selbstdarstellung mit Wally)” sold for £7,881,250, an auction record for a work on paper by Schiele. According to Sotheby’s, the strong work was created when Schiele “was engaged in producing what is now arguably the most celebrated stream of self-imagery of the 20th century“.

Claude Monet‘s large and colorful “Nymphéas avec reflets de hautes herbes” sold for £9,001,250, a bit disappointing given its importance, size, and pre-sale estimate of £12-18 million. On the other hand, the smaller “Le Givre à Giverny” fetched a fantastic £8,777,250, more than doubling its pre-sale low estimate.

The “Surrealist” auction was highlighted by “Le fermier et son épouse”, a fascinating gouache created by Joan Miró in 1936. The lot sold for £5,865,250, just over its low estimate of £5,5 million.

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