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FRANCE-ART-PICASSO-AUCTION
Rare Picasso drawing inspired by French lover goes under hammer in Paris
PARIS, March 29, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – A rare drawing by Pablo Picasso, “Flute
Player and Seated Nude”, owned by the Museum of Modern Art in New York was on
Thursday sold at auction in Paris for 286,000 euros ($321,000).
Dating from October 1932, a particularly prolific year for the artist, the
drawing is one of a series of portraits of women inspired by Marie-Therese
Walter, his companion from 1927-35 and the mother of their daughter Maya.
The proceeds from the sale of the pen and ink drawing will go to the US
museum’s acquisition fund, the Christie’s auction house said.
The work was sold to a European buyer, who was not French.
The Spanish artist, who died in 1973, spent most of his life in France.
The Picasso Museum in Paris boasts one of the world’s most extensive
collections of his work with 5,000 paintings, drawings, sculptures, ceramics,
photographs and documents.
BSS/AFP/GMR/0845 hrs