Picasso Portrait Fetches $52 Million

LONDON — Pablo Picasso’s “Portrait of Angel Fernandez de Soto,” a work from the painter’s Blue Period, has sold for nearly 35 million pounds [$52 million] at a London auction.

The winning bid of 34,761,250 pounds, from an anonymous bidder at an auction at Christie’s Wednesday night, was in the middle of the estimated sale price of 30 million pounds to 40 million pounds, the auctioneer said.

One of Claude Monet’s famous “Water Lilies” paintings — “Nympheas,” a work from 1906 — failed to sell. It had been expected to fetch up to 40 million pounds. read more...

[article by: Scott Reyburn - June 23, 2010]