Picasso Painting Breaks Record; $139 Million for 'Woman with Clock' in New York

The painting 'Woman with Clock' by Pablo Picasso was sold at a Sotheby's auction in New York for $139 million. This 1932 work is the most expensive artwork sold globally this year. 'Woman with Clock,' which is the second most valuable piece by Picasso, was part of the art collection of Emily Fisher Landau, a prominent philanthropist and wealthy individual from New York. The painting is a portrait of Marie-Thérèse Walter, one of Picasso's muses, depicted sitting on a lounge chair against a blue background. At the time, she was 45 years old and had entered a secret romantic relationship with Picasso when she was 17, while he was still married to his wife, Olga Khokhlova, a Ukrainian ballet dancer. Marie-Thérèse Walter is also the subject of several other Picasso works, including 'Sleeping Muse,' painted in 1932 and sold for $67.5 million at auction in 2022. According to the Tate Modern, Picasso created this painting at the age of 50 in response to critics who questioned whether he was an artist of the past or the future. According to Sotheby's, Ms. Fisher Landau had purchased this painting in 1968 from the Pace Gallery in New York and had kept it on the wall of her Manhattan apartment for all these years. The name of the buyer, who succeeded in purchasing the artwork after outbidding two other bidders, has not been disclosed as is customary.