Antique painting fetches record sum
A Picasso has gone for $106.5 million at auction.
An antique painting by Pablo Picasso - Nude, Green Leaves and Bust - has set a record at auction this week, going for $106.5 million (£70.2 million). It went under the hammer at Christie's in New York and was eventually bought by a telephone bidder.
The sale beats the previous record for an auctioned piece of art, which was set three months ago, with one of Alberto Giacometti's sculptures going for $104.3 million in February. Marc Porter, chairman of Christie's Americas, said: "This was a stellar night for Christie's and for the art market."
In all, the event - which was predominately attended by collectors from the US and Europe - featured art worth a total of$335.5 million. This comes after an antique painting set a record price for the work by a Middle Eastern artist. Les Chadoufs - created in 1934 by Mahmud Said - went for $2.4 million in Dubai, besting its estimate of approximately$200,000.