PARIS — Pablo Picasso, who died 50 years ago this week, remains the star of art auctions, with several of his works commanding record sums.
Five works by the Spanish artist have been sold for more than $100 million, 16 for more than $50 million, and 39 for more than $30 million, according to AFP’s count.
The Women of Algiers (Version O), painted in 1955, is the most expensive work by Picasso ever sold at auction, going for $179.4 million on May 11, 2015, fivefold what the seller had paid 18 years earlier.
At the time, it was the biggest art auction sale in history.
It was dethroned in November 2017 by the sale of Salvator Mundi attributed to Leonardo da Vinci, which went under the hammer for US$450 million and holds the record to this day.
In the last 20 years, two other Picasso works have held the record for the biggest art auction sale: Boy with a Pipe, from May 2004 to February 2010, and Nude, Green Leaves and Bust from May 2010 to May 2012, according to an AFP database.
With sales of Picasso works adding up to US$4.7 billion over the past 10 years, according to Artprice’s annual reports, no other artist can touch his totals.
Andy Warhol ($3.4 billion) and Claude Monet ($2.6 billion) lag well behind the King of Cubism.
Picasso was not only a painter, his oeuvre also includes sculptures, drawings, ceramics, engravings, lithographs, illustrated books and ballet costumes.
These have appeared in 31,745 auctions in 10 years — an average of more than 3,000 objects up for sale every year.
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