Pablo Picasso’s 1932 artwork titled “Femme à la montre” achieved a record-breaking sale of over $139 million at a Sotheby’s auction in New York on Wednesday, establishing it as the most valuable artwork sold at auction globally this year.
This piece was a highlight of New York City’s autumn art auction season and is often considered an indicator of the art market’s health. It was part of a larger auction, totaling an estimated $400 million, featuring items from the collection of the late philanthropist Emily Fisher Landau.
With its nine-digit price tag, “Femme à la montre” became the second-most-expensive Pablo Picasso painting ever sold at auction, following “Les femmes d’Alger (Version ‘O’),” which fetched $179.3 million, including a buyer’s premium, at Christie’s in 2015.
The painting, translating to “Woman with a Watch” in English, depicts the artist’s lover, Marie-Thérèse Walter, seated in a regal chair against a blue backdrop. The motif of the wristwatch is also seen in other works by Picasso, including those featuring his wife, Russian-Ukrainian ballerina Olga Khokhlova.
Marie-Thérèse Walter was only 17 when she met the 45-year-old Picasso in Paris, and they eventually engaged in a clandestine relationship while Picasso was still married to Khokhlova. She served as his muse for numerous artworks, including the 1932 painting “Femme nue couchée,” which sold for $67.5 million at auction in 2022.
The year 1932 was pivotal in Picasso’s career. At the age of 50, he had already achieved widespread fame, but he intensified his creative endeavors to address critics who questioned whether he was an artist of the past or a visionary of the future, as noted by the Tate Modern Museum.
Emily Fisher Landau purchased “Femme à la montre” from New York’s Pace Gallery in 1968 and prominently displayed it above her fireplace in her Manhattan apartment, as revealed by Sotheby’s.
The winning bid came from an anonymous buyer, who outbid two other contenders for the painting.
