A lesser-known portrait of photographer Dora Maar by Picasso was sold for $37 million, four times its estimated value.
Titled “Bust of a Woman with a Flowered Hat (Dora Maar)“, the 1943 painting was one of the many portraits the artist made of Dora Maar during their relationship. However, it is one of the less famous ones due to it never being publicly exhibited for over 8 decades. This changed earlier this month when the work was exhibited for the first time at Lucien Paris. Then, on October 24th, the work was auctioned off for $37 million. This was almost quadruple its $9.5 million presale estimate. Christophe Lucien, owner of the Lucien auction house, said that this was the highest auction bid for any artwork in France this year.
The portrait was completed towards the end of the seven-year relationship between Picasso and Dora Maar. In 1944, it was bought by a family (which chose to remain anonymous). While it was privately exhibited a couple of times, the work was never publicly exhibited and its existence was only known through photographs.
Also Read: Pepperdine Museum Director Resigns After Censorship Allegations
While the $37 million price tag is certainly impressive, it is nowhere near the auction record for Picasso, which was achieved by Les femmes d’Alger (Version ‘O’) (1955) when it was sold for $179.4 million in 2015. Dora Maar has been historically known for being the muse and mistress of Picasso, but recently she has started gaining recognition for being an artist in her own right.
