Picasso for US$140m? Christie's New York auction could smash art world records
Works by Picasso valued at US$140m and Giacometti at US$130m are up for bidding
Christie's auction house is hoping to set new world records with a Picasso valued at US$140 million and a Giacometti worth US$130 million, as New York's spring auction season kicks off tomorrow.
Pablo Picasso's colourful The Women of Algiers (Version 0), depicting a scene from a harem, will be up for grabs when Christie's puts it on the auction block May 11.
The same goes for Alberto Giacometti's bronze statue Man Pointing, of which there are only six casts in the world.
"Those two works can set a world record," said Loic Gouzer, senior vice-president of Christie's. "You don't have another chance to get them."
The rising price of artwork at auctions is attributed to a growing number of wealthy, private investors around the world, the experts say.
Giacometti's nearly 1.8-metre depiction of a wiry man holding up one hand and pointing with the other is the artist's "most celebrated sculpture", Gouzer said.