Rediscovered Picasso portrait sells for €32M in Paris

A previously hidden Pablo Picasso portrait of his muse Dora Maar, titled “Bust of a Woman with a Flowered Hat,” sold for €32 million ($37 million) at the Drouot auction house in Paris on Friday, marking the highest auction price of the year in France.npr
The 1943 painting, which had remained in a private French family collection since 1944, sparked a 35-minute bidding war among 18 collectors from Europe, Asia, and the United States before selling to a buyer in the auction room.npr
The sale far exceeded the initial estimate of €8 million, with the hammer price reaching €27 million before fees brought the total to €32,012,397.npr
Art experts described the work as remarkably preserved, with Agnès Sevestre-Barbé noting it remained exactly as it left Picasso’s studio in 1943, unvarnished and retaining its complete chromatic spectrum—previously known only through a black-and-white photograph.npr
The portrait depicts Maar at the painful end of their seven-year relationship, with auctioneer Christophe Lucien calling it “a little piece of the story of love” that captures her holding back tears as Picasso was about to leave her for Françoise Gilot.npr

Rediscovered Picasso Portrait of Dora Maar Sells for €32 Million at Paris Auction

A previously hidden Pablo Picasso masterpiece featuring his muse Dora Maar fetched €32 million at a Paris auction on Friday, marking the highest auction price of the year in France and setting off intense international bidding among 18 collectors.npr

The 1943 painting “Buste de femme au chapeau à fleurs” (Bust of a Woman with a Flowered Hat) sold for a hammer price of €27 million, with fees bringing the total to €32,012,397 at the Drouot auction house. The sale far exceeded the initial estimate of €8 million, according to auction house officials.indulgexpress

Global Competition for Historic Work

The painting sparked a 35-minute bidding battle between collectors from Europe, Asia, and the United States before being sold to an international buyer present in the auction room. Auctioneer Christophe Lucien called the final sale “an enormous success” and described it as “a deeply emotional moment”.artdependence

“It’s without a doubt the most moving work of Picasso that involved his muse, because he was about to leave her (Dora Maar) for (French painter) Francoise Gilot,” Lucien told reporters. “And through this portrait, we see a woman who holds back her tears.”globalbankingandfinance

Eight Decades in Private Hands

The artwork had remained in the same French family collection since 1944, when it was acquired by the grandfather of the anonymous sellers. Previously, the painting was known only through a black-and-white photograph taken by Brassaï in Picasso’s studio and published in Christian Zervos’s catalogue raisonné in 1962.artdependence

Art expert Agnès Sevestre-Barbé, who authenticated the work, expressed amazement at its pristine condition during preview exhibitions. “We have a painting that is exactly as it was when it left the studio,” she said. “It wasn’t varnished, which means we have all its raw material, all of it. You can feel all the colors, the entire chromatic range.”npr

The painting depicts Maar in a brightly colored floral hat and was created in July 1943 during the Nazi occupation of Paris, at the twilight of her seven-year relationship with Picasso. While the sale exceeded expectations, it remains far below Picasso’s auction records, including “Femmes d’Alger” which sold for $179.4 million in 2015.aawsat