Sotheby’s to offer $25 million “secret” Picasso portrait of Marie-Thérèse Walter in November.
Pablo Picasso, Compotier et guitare, 1932. Courtesy of Sotheby's.
A “secret” portrait by Pablo Picasso of his muse Marie-Thérèse Walter is to be offered by Sotheby’s next month with an estimated price of around $25 million. Painted in 1932, one of the most consequential years of Picasso’s career, Compotier et guitare is described by the auction house as “among the most valuable still life works by the artist to be offered at auction” and will be featured in the “Modern Evening” sale in New York on November 13th.
The work contains hidden allusions to Marie-Thérèse Walter, a model with whom he had an affair in the 1920s and ’30s, and the mother of his daughter Maya. The affair became public in 1932, when Picasso’s much-anticipated retrospective exhibition opened at the Galeries Georges Petit in Paris—the first and only occasion when Picasso himself curated a display of his works, which included Compotier et guitare.
“As the world celebrates and commemorates Picasso’s legacy, marking 50 years since his passing, Compotier et guitare stands out as one of his most significant expressions in still life painting,” said Julian Dawes, Sotheby’s’ head of impressionist and modern art, New York.
Compotier et guitare was unveiled at Sotheby’s galleries in Hong Kong this week, where it will be on view in Asia for the first time and make its first exhibition appearance in more than 30 years. It is one of two major Picasso works to be offered by the auction house next month: Femme à la montre, also from 1932 and estimated to fetch $120 million, will be included in the sale of the collection of Emily Fisher Landau on November 8th.