Picasso’s portrait of secret lover sells for $139.4 million at auction

Spanish patiner’s ‘Femme à la montre’, which told the world he was having an affair with his ‘golden muse’, is the most valuable piece of art sold this year

‘Femme à la montre’ (Estate of Pablo Picasso/Artists Rights Society, New York; via Sotheby’s)

A painting with which Pablo Picasso announced to the world his passionate affair with his “golden muse” has sold at auction for $139.4 million (£113m).

This positions the work, named Femme à la montre’ (Woman with a Watch), as the most valuable piece of art sold at auction this year – and the second highest for an artist ever.

The winning bid, scored following “a two minute stand-off between three phone bidders” at Sotheby’s in New York, exceeded its pre-auction valuation of $120m (£97.8m).

Speaking to Artnet, Julian Dawes, Sotheby’s Head of Impressionism to Modern Art, told Artnet: attributed the high sale to the “delirious effect” Picasso’s relationship with Walter has on art collectors “around the world”

He said: “For some reason, that is what resonates with audiences more than any of these other, other, other women.”

The Spanish artist’s 1932 painting was described by Brooke Lampley, Sotheby’s Global Chairman and Head of Global Fine Art, as “the ultimate public humiliation” – Picasso used the unveiling of the artwork to announce the French model Marie-Thérèse Walter as his lover despite being married to Russian-Ukrainian ballerina Olga Khokhlova at the time.

Lampley also described the piece as “Picasso’s Mona Lisa”, adding: “Painted in 1932, when he is preparing for his major retrospective, there’s a feeling that he is literally painting his legacy, looking back at the past and reflecting on his own place in art history. The works from this moment are magnum opi meant to represent him at his apogee, which is just what this painting does.’

Picasso is believed to have first encountered Walter five years before when she was stood outside a department store in Paris. Walter went onto recall how, after introducing himself, the artist told her: “You and I are going to do great things together!”

He made good of his word, with Walter becoming the subject of many of his works. She is famously depicted in Femme Nue Couchee (Nude Reclining Woman), which was also painted in 1932 and sold at auction in 2022 for $67.5m (£55m).

Speaking about the sale of ‘Femme à la montre’ , Dawes told Artnet: “At the end of the day, this is an exceptional price and an exceptional result with real competition.”

The piece was previously owned by Emily Fisher Landau for 55 years after the art collector purchased it in 1968. The Picasso painting that holds the record for being the most expensive to have ever sold at auction is Les Femmes d’Alger (Women of Algiers), which went for $179.3m (£146m) at Christie’s in 2015.

'Femme à la montre’ saw Picasso announce he had a secret lover to the world (Estate of Pablo Picasso/Artists Rights Society, New York; via Sotheby’s)

Over the course of 80 years, Picasso, who died in 1973 aged 92, painted 150,000 pieces. He is one of the best-known and most influential artists of the 20th century, and is credited with co-founding the Cubist movement as well as the co-invention of collage.

Last month, late Rolling Stones drummer Charlie Watts’s rare book collection broke records at Christie’s, with a first edition Sherlock Holmes bookfetching for £214,000.

Meanwhile, at an auction of Sir Roger Moore’s belongings held at Bonhams, the actor’s lookalike sons stole the show.