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The Arts Intel Report

20th Century Evening Sale

Pablo Picasso, Femme endormie, 1934.

Oct 28 – Nov 11, 2023
20 Rockefeller Plaza, New York, NY 10020, United States

If you happen to have $30 million in your piggy bank, you are in the right place. Four lots at the upcoming Christie’s 20th Century Evening Sale are estimated to sell at that price. Part of the 20th/21st Century Art November sales in New York, this auction features big names from big movements: Paul Cézanne, René Magritte, Joan Mitchell. One notable work is Pablo Picasso’s Femme endormie, created in 1934. The increasingly difficult political situation in Europe, paired with marital issues, made this a difficult time for Picasso; as a result, he only completed three colorful paintings that year, all of his mistress Marie-Thérèse Walter. Femme endormie, coming from filmmaker Ivan Reitman’s private collection, is one of these. Another valuable piece is Arshile Gorky’s Charred Beloved 1, which the critic Jed Perl recently wrote about in AIR MAIL. —Jeanne Malle

Photo: © Christie’s Images Limited 2023