An employee of the Van Ham auction house walks past the painting "Buste de femme" from 1971 by Pablo Picasso. © Federico Gambarini/dpa
The painting "Buste de femme" (bust of a woman) by Pablo Picasso has been auctioned in Cologne for 3.4 million euros. "The hammer price is above expectations," said a spokeswoman for the auction house Van Ham on Monday evening. A telephone bidder from Switzerland had submitted the highest bid. The estimated value was 1.5 to 2.5 million euros.
Cologne - The large-format late work exhibits the shifted perspectives so typical of Picasso (1881-1973): profile and frontal views are intertwined. In terms of color, the image is reduced to shades of yellow and gray.
The painting from 1971 depicts Picasso's second wife Jacqueline Roque (1927-1986). Picasso created a total of 400 portraits of his partner, who was 46 years his junior.
The catalogue states that Jacqueline was Picasso's "muse and lover, but also an unconditional and self-sacrificing assistant, manager and servant". "The possessive genius painter demanded the unconditional self-abandonment of the woman, who in turn appropriated him entirely for herself and his art." dpa
