Stephanie G. Mathis The 1932 painting, titled A (or ‘Woman with a Watch’), was part of philanthropist Emily Fisher Landau’s $400 million sale. The 1932 painting Women with Watch was sold as part of the $400 million collection of Emily Fisher Landau.
The 51-by-38-inch painting shows Marie Therese Walter, Picasso’s mistress. Picasso had married the Russian-Ukrainian Olga Khokhlova at the time Walter was 17 years old. Picasso’s golden muse, a young woman known as Walter, would appear in many of his works. For example, Femme Nue Couchee was sold for $67.5 Million in 2022.
Femme A La Montre Walter is seated on a chair in front of an eye-catching blue background. She wears the watch that was given to her by Picasso. In an announcement, Sotheby’s says that Picasso’s obsession took on mythic proportions. The likeness of Marie Therese was spilled out on canvas after canvas, on sculpture and paper.
Picasso also uses watches as a motif in his work. This accessory is seen, for example, in a 1917 painting of Picasso’s wife.
Picasso created this piece at a crucial time in his career. He was 50 years old. Henri Matisse became increasingly popular, and critics questioned if Picasso’s works would still be relevant. The Cubist artist was able to silence critics with a large-scale Paris retrospective, which launched a new period of acclaim known as “the year of wonders.”
The sale last week coincides with the 50th anniversary of the artist’s passing. This occasion led to a reappraisal of Picasso’s legacy.
However, these concerns do not appear to have affected the value of Picasso’s art. Sotheby’s had estimated that the Femmes à la Montreal would fetch $120,000,000. Brooke Lampley was the head of global fine arts at Sotheby’s and organized the sale. She wondered, however, if this number was too conservative.
Lampley asked Zachary Small, New York Times, “My only question: Should the estimate have higher?” “Nobody has challenged me to claim that the estimate was too high.”
