Picasso arrives on the big screen with Antonio Banderas 4:42
(CNN) -
Eleven pieces of art by Pablo Picasso that were on display in a Las Vegas restaurant for more than 20 years will hit the auction block in October, just two days before what would have been the artist's 140th birthday.
As part of MGM Resorts' sizable art collection, the pieces have long been a fixture at Picasso, a Michelin-starred French and Spanish restaurant at the Bellagio that is inspired by the life and work of its namesake.
A man forgets a Picasso vase on a train in Germany
"Buste d'homme" hung behind the bar by Picasso, which opened in 1998.
The collection, which includes paintings, works on paper and a ceramic work, has a combined maximum estimate of $ 104.2 million, according to auction house Sotheby's, which is organizing the sale.
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Picasso's "Femme au béret rouge-orange" represents the model Marie-Thérèse Walter. They started an affair in the late 1920s and had a son together. (Credit: Courtesy of Sotheby's and MGM Resorts)
"It's an encyclopedic collection of Picasso's work, featuring works from 1917 to 1969, so pretty much the length of his entire career," said Brooke Lampley, Sotheby's president and global director of world fine art sales, by telephone. .
"It offers a beautiful and comprehensive view of the incredible diversity and richness of his career."
It will be the first time that Las Vegas has hosted one of Sotheby's night sales, which normally take place at the auction house's headquarters in New York.
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A varied collection
Among the 11 works is "Femme au béret rouge-orange", an oil painting by Marie-Thérèse Walter, a young French model with whom the artist had a years-long affair in the late 1920s and 1930s.
Picasso's extensive portraits of Walter, who was the mother of his daughter Maya, are marked by vivid colors and a sense of intimacy.
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"I love the Marie-Thérèse period, because it is the most unusually sincere and romantic period of Picasso's career," said Lampley.
He noted that some of the artist's stylistic choices, including Walter's cubist-style double face and beret, are reminiscent of his famous paintings of another romantic couple, photographer Dora Maar.
"You can see the built-in influences of the two muses right now," added Lampley.
"Nature morte au panier de fruit et aux fleurs," a 1942 painting. During this period, Picasso "painted with a very intense application of paint, almost reminiscent of Van Gogh," said Sotheby's Brooke Lampley. (Credit: Courtesy of Sotheby's and MGM Resorts)
Other works for sale include 1969's "Buste d'homme," a late-period Picasso painting that once hung behind the bar of a Las Vegas restaurant;
"Nature morte au panier de fruits et aux fleurs", a still life painted during the Nazi occupation of Paris;
and "Aiguière - Visage", a white terracotta vase that he made in 1954.
A new location
The Picasso auction will be the "largest and most important" fine art sale ever held in Las Vegas, according to Sotheby's.
The move is part of MGM's attempts to reposition the city, known for gambling and entertainment, as "a broader arts destination," Lampley said.
The auction comes at a time when the ongoing pandemic is radically changing both the art market and the tourism and travel sectors.
Last August, MGM Resorts laid off 18,000 employees, a quarter of its workforce, amid a 61% decrease in the number of visitors to Las Vegas in July 2020 compared to the previous year.
This month, MGM Resorts International reported a rebound in its second-quarter earnings due to an increase in travel.
The sale, from the MGM Resorts corporate art collection, includes paintings, works on paper and this terracotta vase. (Credit: Courtesy of Sotheby's and MGM Resorts)
In a press release, MGM said that the auction of Picasso's works would help its goal of "deepening diversity and inclusion" within its art collection.
Some of the proceeds will be invested again in the art market, according to Sotheby's.
The tourism group's director of hospitality, Ari Kastrati, said in a statement: "We are committed to creating an even more inclusive collection that maintains the breadth of our existing portfolio while giving a greater voice to artists from underrepresented communities."
MGM declined to provide a timeline for the initiative.
"We want to be thoughtful and thoughtful about how we move forward," said a spokesperson through Sotheby's, confirming that the group's collection still contains 12 other works of Picasso art that will replace the items auctioned at the restaurant.
Pablo Picasso