Pablo Picasso Painting from 1932 “Femme nue couchee” fetched $67.5 million (€64 million) at its auction debut at Sotheby’s in New York.
Sotheby’s had predicted the Picasso painting, a surrealist depiction of his then-lover, model Marie-Therese Walter, to sell for over $60 million.
The asking price is lower than other portraits by Walter, one of which fetched $103.4 million at Christie’s last year.
“Femme nue couchee”, which translates from French as “Naked reclining woman”, shows the woman as a multi-limbed sea creature with her head tilted back in profile. Her love of swimming and grace in the water inspired the nod to the sea, as Picasso himself could not swim, according to Sotheby’s.
