Picasso painting poised to break world auction record

A 1950s painting by Picasso looks set to become the most expensive art work ever sold at auction – and knock Dublin-born artist Francis Bacon off the top spot – when it goes under the hammer at Christie's in New York next month with an estimate "in the region of" $140 million.

If, as expected, the final price for Les femmes d'Alger (Version "O") exceeds the estimate, the painting is likely to overtake the current record of $142.4 million (€ 114m) set, also at Christie's in New York, in 2013, for Three Studies of Lucian Freud, a triptych portrait by Bacon of his friend and fellow artist – the highest price ever paid at auction for any work of art.

Record prices

Higher prices have, reputedly, been paid for a handful of paintings in private transactions but as these cannot be verified; the art market index of record prices is based on auction results.

Christie's described Les femmes d'Alger (Version "O") – known in English as "The Women of Algiers" – as a "majestic, vibrantly-hued painting" which "promises to cause a sensation on the global art market".

It last changed hands in 1997 – also at Christie’s, New York – when it sold for $31.9 million.

Commenting on the importance of the painting, Olivier Camu of the impressionist and modern art unit at Christie's said Les femmes d'Alger (Version "O") "is a milestone in Picasso's oeuvre and one of his most famous masterpieces" and its sale "will be a watershed moment in the market for 20th century art".

Pablo Picasso, a Spaniard who spent most of his life in France, died in 1973 aged 91.

His most famous painting, Guernica, is named after a village in the Basque country which was bombed during the Spanish civil war.

Picasso painted a series of 15 variations of Les Femmes d'Alger between December 1954 and February 1955.

He was, reputedly, inspired by a famous 19th century painting by Delacroix, Women of Algiers in their Apartment, which depicts Algerian women in a harem smoking a hookah and which now hangs in the Louvre.

Alphabetically

Picasso designated this series not numerically but alphabetically as versions “A” through “O”.

The version for sale – the last of the series – is version “O”, the 15th letter of the alphabet.

All 15 versions were originally owned by private New York art collectors – the late Victor and Sally Ganz – who bought the entire series directly from Picasso's dealer Daniel Kahnweiler in Paris in June 1956 for "only" €212,500.

They later sold all the paintings, some to a museum, others at auction.

Private collector

The vendor of Les femmes d'Alger (Version "O") is an unnamed private collector who bought the painting in the 1997 Christie's auction.

If the estimate is achieved – or exceeded – the collector’s “profit” after 18 years of ownership will be over $100 million for a single picture.

The auction, in Manhattan on Monday, May 11th, "promises to be a sale to remember", according to Jussi Pylkkanen, Christie's global president.