Pablo Picasso’s “Buste de Femme”, a portrait of his second wife Jacqueline Roque, sold for an impressive €3.4 million at the Van Ham auction house in Cologne, more than double the estimated price and a record for the auction house.
Compared to the record-breaking $179.4 million paid for “The Women of Algiers” at Christie’s, New York, in 2015, the amount for this portrait may seem pretty small. However, according to experts, the later works by the artist have a lower value in the international market.
The winning bidder, a Swiss collector, paid €4.35m, including commission, making it the highest price reached at a German auction so far this year. According to Van Ham, fifteen international bidders took part in the auction by telephone.
In a statement, Van Ham said the evening sale, which took place on 5th June, was the most successful in history, accumulating a total revenue of €13.9m. A few other top sales included Max Pechstein’s 1920 oil painting Conversation, which fetched €737,000; Hans Hartung’s 1947 painting T1947-27, which once belonged to Peggy Guggenheim and sold for €698,000, a 1967 abstract composition by Serge Poliakoff, which sold for €698,500, and Günther Uecker’s 1990 White Cry, which went for €501,000.
The portrait of Jacqueline Roque is the first Picasso to enter the German market in 25 years. Germany is one of the fastest-growing auction markets in the world right now, and this record sale by one of the most internationally acclaimed blue-chip artists proves it.
The record for the most expensive work ever sold at a German auction is 1944 Max Beckman’s self-portrait, selling for €20m at Villa Grisebach in Berlin in December last year.
Featured Image: Pablo Picasso, Buste de femme (1971) at Van Ham Kunstauktionen, via VAN HAM Kunstauktionen