Pablo Picasso’s “Woman with a Clock” sold for $139.3 million

The painting was included in the top most expensive works of the artist

“Woman with a Clock” by Pablo Picasso was auctioned at Sotheby’s for $139.3 million. Now it is the second most expensive painting by the artist ever sold at public auction. The first place in the ranking is occupied by “Algerian Women”, sold in 2015 at Christie’s for almost $180 million.

The fact that “Woman with a Clock” would be successfully sold was clear as soon as rumors appeared that the portrait was going to be put up for auction. This work is one of Picasso’s most famous paintings. At one time she became a sensation, and also caused a personal scandal. The artist painted this portrait of his beloved Marie-Therese Walter in 1932, the same year he depicted her in the painting “Dream”. The screening of “Woman with a Clock” revealed the relationship between Maria Teresa and Pablo, which began five years earlier – in 1927, when the girl was 17 years old. In 1935, Maria Teresa became pregnant with Picasso’s child, after which the artist’s wife Olga Khokhlova left him, but without giving a divorce. However, after the birth of his daughter, Picasso, although he visited Maria (the family called the girl Maya), was already carried away by another model, Dora Maar.

“Woman with a Clock” was one of the pearls of the collection of socialite and collector Emily Fischer Landau and was kept by her for more than half a century. In the late 1960s, Landau’s apartment was ransacked by thieves who stole a lot of jewelry from the safe. Fortunately, the diamonds were insured and after the robbery the woman received serious insurance, which she spent on collecting and supporting artists. In March of this year, Emily died at the age of 102, and her daughter Candia decided to put part of the collection up for sale.

It is curious that two auction houses – Sotheby’s and Christie’s – competed for the right to sell at public auction a portrait of Picasso’s beloved Marie-Therese Walter from the collection of Emily Fischer Landau. But the heiress preferred the first. And it seems she made the right choice, if you look at the results of the latest evening auction at Christie’s in New York. Consider them a failure. The total result is $107 million – this is for 15 works by first-class artists of the second half of the twentieth century. 95% of lots sold at the estimate price. Even the work of Jean-Michel Basquiat did not make a difference – it was sold for $11 million, with an estimate of $10-15 million.

“The sale of Pablo Picasso’s painting “Woman with a Clock” for $139.3 million once again confirmed the artist’s consistently high status on the art market,” says art market expert, researcher at the Institute of Art History Inna Pulikova. – What could influence the activity of buyers, except for the author’s name itself? The history of the creation of the painting, the model herself – Marie-Therese Walter and her relationship with Picasso, and, finally, impeccable provenance. In fact, this is not just a painting, but a unique opportunity to become a little closer to the personality and life of the great artist.