Picasso masterpiece from 1937 sells for nearly £50m at Sotheby’s to be most expensive painting auctioned in the UK
A Picasso masterpiece has sold for almost £50 million - making it the most expensive painting ever auctioned in the UK.
'Femme au béret et à la robe quadrillée', from 1937, is a depiction of Marie-Therese Walter, Picasso's muse, and it had never been offered publicly.
It was painted shortly after the Spanish artist's famous Guernica piece and has been in the same private collection since it left Picasso's estate.
The oil painting was offered by Sotheby's at its Evening Sales of Impressionist & Modern Art and Surrealist Art in London.
After global interest, four people battled it out for the 22-inch high artwork and it eventually sold for £49.8 million - making it the most expensive painting ever sold at auction in pound sterling.
It was bought by Gurrs John, an art acquisition firm, which went a Picasso spending spree, splashing out a £22.8 million on two other pieces of work by the Spanish artist.
This included £16.5 million on Le Matador, a self-portrait of the Spanish artist as a bullfighter, painted in the final years of his life.
Helena Newman, global co-head of Sotheby's Impressionist & Modern Art Department, said: "Having been part of the incredible moment when Alberto Giacometti's Walking Man achieved its unprecedented price for any sculpture, it was a particular thrill to see Picasso's portrait of his golden muse Marie-Therésè Walter achieve a new benchmark tonight in the same saleroom for any painting auctioned in Europe."
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Sales at the high-profile auction totalled £136 million, with 36 lots selling for an average of £3.8 million.
More than half of the works offered had never previously appeared at auction - with all but one of those 26 pieces finding a buyer.
A one-of-a-kind bronze chandelier by Alberto Giacometti was another star lot, selling to a private collector for £7.6 million.