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Picasso's La Lecture is highlight of Sotheby's London auction
Feb 8, 2011, 22:53 GMT
London - A 1932 painting by Pablo Picasso of his mistress and muse, Marie-Therese Walter, sold for 25 million pounds (40.7 million dollars) at auction at Sotheby's in London Tuesday.
La Lecture, bought anonymously, shows Picasso's young lover, who is widely credited with having transformed his life and his art, asleep in an armchair.
It had been expected to fetch between 12 and 18 million pounds, according to pre-sale estimates. Sotheby's said seven bidders, both in the salesroom and on the phone, competed for the work.
The painting, which has belonged to a series of prominent US collectors, had not been seen in Europe since it was shown at a major Picasso exhibition in Paris in 1932.
It was the highlight among 42 lots offered in Sotheby's sale of impressionist and modern art, which fetched a total of 71.4 million pounds, the auction house said.
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