Is the Giacometti All Time Auction Record About to be Broken?

Colin Gleadell writing in Market News for the Telegraph UK reports many dealers believe the upcoming sale of a Picasso being offered at Christie's in May may break the Giracometti auction record of $104 million. Nude, Green Leaves and Bust,The Picaso is titled Nude, Green Leaves and Bust, and is similar in style to le Reve, whcih was sold privately to Steve Wynn for $139 million. The painting is estimated to sell for close to $80 million, with many expecting it could go higher and challenge the Giacometti auction record..

Gleadell reports

If any artist can topple Giacometti's $104 million world record for a work of art at auction, it is Picasso. Last week at the Maastricht art fair, bets were on that Picasso's Nude, Green Leaves and Bust, from the collection of Mrs Sidney F Brody, could be the one to do it when offered by Christie's in New York in May. Estimated at $80 million, it compares with Le Rêve, another work from the series, which was to be sold privately for $139 million by Las Vegas hotelier Steve Wynn, before he inadvertently put his elbow through it. Certainly Picasso's palette boards, on which he mixed his paints, were in record price territory at Maastricht. At the Galerie Krugier, a group from the collection of Picasso's daughter Marina were priced from €110,000 to €2 million.

To read the full art news column, with info on Maastricht, and also a short paragraph on Chinese antiques as still a very strong market sector.