Picasso painting sets world record price at auction - PHOTO

Picasso's Nude, Green Leaves and Bust has sold for $106m (£70m) at Christie's in New York on Tuesday, setting a new world record for a work of art sold at auction.

The vibrant large-scale depiction of Picasso's mistress and frequent subject, Marie-Therese Walter, was the highlight of a world-class collection assembled by the late Los Angeles art patrons Frances and Sidney Brody.

It had been estimated to sell for more than $80m, but many art experts predicted in recent weeks it would ride growing confidence in a recovering art market and break the previous record of $104.3m set in February by Giacometti's Walking Man I at Sotheby's in London.

More than half a dozen people bid on the 1932 canvas, which the Brodys acquired in the 1950s from Picasso's dealers, with the winning bid taken by a Christie's executive via telephone. The final price of $106,482,500 included the auction's house's commission.


/Guardian.co.uk/

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