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Picasso muse's portrait goes under hammer
The portrait of Dora Maar depicts her in fragmented, bright colours with a black cat on her shoulder.
A striking Pablo Picasso portrait of one of his most famous lovers, the artist Dora Maar, fetched $95.2 million at auction, the second-highest price ever paid for an artwork, Sotheby's auctioneers said.
Dora Maar au Chat - French for Dora Maar with Cat - depicts Picasso's main muse in fragmented, bright colours with a black cat on her shoulder.
Sold to an unidentified bidder at a New York auction, the painting nearly doubled its pre-sale estimate of $50 million Wednesday.
Painted in 1941 in Nazi-occupied Paris at the height of their tempestuous relationship, the painting had not been shown in public for nearly 40 years.
The Gidwitz family of Chicago, which made a fortune from hair care products, reportedly sold it.
On Tuesday, a Vincent van Gogh portrait of a woman who owned a cafe he frequented in France sold for $40.3 million at a Christie's auction in New York.
