Pablo Picasso, “Femme assise,” 1909, was bid to $53.6 million (world auction record for any Cubist work).

Records Set In London For ‘Femme Assise’ & Modigliani Portrait

LONDON — Sotheby’s Impressionist and Modern art sale evening sale on June 21 totaled $151.9 million and recorded two of the highest prices achieved by the firm in London in more than five years.

The auction was led by Pablo Picasso’s Cubist masterpiece “Femme assise,” which sold for $63.6 million – setting a new record price for any Cubist work at auction. The work achieved the highest price for an art work sold in London in over five years, since the sale of Alberto Giacometti’s “Walking Man I” at Sotheby’s in 2010 for $104.3 million. The greatest Cubist painting to come to the market in decades, “Femme assise” of 1909 came to the market having remained in a private collection since 1973.

The sale also saw a record for a portrait by Amedeo Modigliani, as “Jeanne Hébuterne (au foulard)” of 1919 fetched $56.6 million – the second-highest price for a painting sold in London in more than five years. One of the greatest portraits the artist painted of his most loyal muse, and the finest to come to the market in a decade, this work was last sold in 1986.

Watch for a complete report on this sale in a subsequent edition.