World Auction Record Made for Picasso's Romantic Partner in Paris

Paris Auction Week celebrated several important cultural jubilees this year, marking the 150th anniversary of Impressionism and the 100th anniversary of the Surrealist Manifesto. It was no coincidence, therefore, that the Surrealist icon Man Ray was its star. The sale of his works from the collection of curator and collector Marion Meyer exceeded everyone's expectations. A screen print of the famous photograph Le Violon d'Ingres, depicting Kiki de Montparnasse, was auctioned in Paris for €120,000, double the highest pre-auction estimate. Two letters signed by Man Ray on "MOUvEmEnT DADA" letterhead from 1921 sold for up to ten times the estimate, bringing the total bidding to €4.7 million.

A significant trend in the contemporary art scene is the growing position of women, which is also reflected in the money spent on their works. A world auction record was set by a canvas by Françoise Gilot, a French painter still better known to the general public today as one of Picasso's lovers and muses. Her Le Concert Champêtre sold for €1.3 million in her home city of Paris, more than six times its estimated price. The value of the work of the artist, who died last June at the venerable age of 101, was likely influenced by the fact that the local Picasso Museum recently opened a separate Françoise Gilot exhibition. Berthe Morisot's La Petite Fille au Cheveux Blonds also did well, selling for more than double its pre-auction estimate.

Works by Impressionist masters Renoir, Morisot, and Sisley achieved extraordinary results, while new auction records were also set for pieces by lesser-known figures of the movement. "The results of this week demonstrate the depth and apetite of the international art market, not only for the great names of the late 19th and 20th centuries," said Valérie Didier, director of Christie's evening sales for Impressionist and Modern art and collections.