Pablo Picasso's Iconic Painting Of a Muse to Fetch Over $14 Million USD
Portraying his former lover and the artist, Françoise Gilot.
Pablo Picasso’s 1952 painting of one of his muses, the artist Françoise Gilot, will soon be offered at an upcoming sale this May 12 as part of Sotheby’s Impressionist and modern art evening auction. Entitled Femme assise en costume vert, the painting was recently on view at Sotheby’s galleries in London and is currently on display at the house’s New York headquarters. It is expected to fetch a price between $14 million USD and $18 million USD.
The work portrays Picasso’s former partner, with which he had two children, Paloma and Claude. Gilot resides in New York and will turn 100 in November as per the auction house. She has also recently published a memoir chronicling her relationship with Picasso. “The painting encapsulates Gilot’s strength of character, Picasso’s enduring respect for her, and his slipping hold on her,” Sotheby’s said in a press release.
The painting is returning to auction after being purchased by a European owner back in 1986 from Sotheby’s for just $568,000 USD. “While few comparable portraits of Gilot of this quality and scale have appeared at auction over the past decade, each has performed exceptionally well,” said Julian Dawes, co-head of Sotheby’s Impressionist and modern art department, in a statement.
View the painting above and then head to Sotheby’s website for more information.
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