Pablo Picasso's 1932 painting *Femme à la montre*, depicting his lover Marie-Thérèse Walter, sold for $139.4 million (including fees) at Sotheby's New York during the highly anticipated Emily Fisher Landau sale. The work, estimated at $120 million, was the centerpiece of the auction, with bidding starting at $95 million and concluding after a two-minute standoff among three phone bidders, including one from Asia. Brooke Lampley, Sotheby's head of global fine art, secured the winning bid on behalf of a client. The sale was handled by Sotheby's, which won the right to auction the estate of Landau, a longtime Whitney Museum board member and private collector.
This sale underscores the enduring market strength of Picasso's works from his highly creative 1932 period, particularly those featuring Marie-Thérèse Walter, whom Julian Dawes of Sotheby's described as a 'golden muse' that elicits romantic, delirious responses from collectors. The result, while meeting expectations, highlights the scarcity of top-tier Picassos in private hands and the willingness of wealthy collectors to pay premium prices for iconic works. The auction also reflects the ongoing demand for blue-chip art as a store of value, even amid broader economic uncertainties.