Picasso's mistress sells for £70m

A Picasso painting of a nude woman who was widely believed to be one of his mistresses has reached a record sale at auction.

Entitled Nude, Green Leaves And Bust, the picture made £70.3 million when a telephone bidder secured the winning lot at a Sotheby's auction in New York on Wednesday night (May 5th).

Featuring a naked woman lying with her head tilted, many have speculated that the 1932 portrait depicts his mistress Marie-Therese Walter.

Moreover, it seems art lovers were more eager to get their hands on Picasso's extramarital lover than they were his wife.

Woman With a Big Hat, which is thought to be a portrait of his second wife Jacqueline Roque, sold for a more 'modest' £6.1 million when it was auctioned off today by Christopher Lawford, nephew of late US President and fellow adulterer John F Kennedy.

According to a review in the Telegraph, Picasso's secret affair with Ms Walter brought a new lease of life to his work and rejuvenated his appeal.

During the unfaithful encounter he "embarked on a run of sumptuously erotic canvases which are the visual equivalent of great love poems", it reveals.

Category: Other adultery news

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