11 Picasso masterworks were sold by Sotheby’s in MGM Las Vegas’ Bellagio Hotel and Casino on 23 October.
These 11 paintings and earthenware were part of the MGM Resorts International's Collection. They were all sold for US$108.8 million dollars.
The total hammer price, excluding premium, was more than US$93.1 million dollars – within range of the total sale estimate between US$70.5 and 104.2 million dollars before the auction.
The sale's top lot was Picasso’s Femme au beret rouge-orange painting – a depiction of the Spanish artist’s famed lover and muse, Marie-Therese Walter. It was sold for US$40.4 million dollars, with buyer's premium.
It was the first time that Sotheby’s has ever staged an Evening Sale in North America outside of New York. Sotheby’s veteran auctioneer Oliver Barker led the sale, which lasted 45 minutes. The auction tables and the telephone seats were filled with bidders – normally seen in the auction halls – reproduced in the hotel's banquet hall.
Sotheby's veteran auctioneer, Oliver Barker, during the sale
Bellagio's banquet hall was transformed into a Sotheby’s auction room
Steve Wynn
The 11 Picasso works in this auction were once purchased by Steve Wynn in his early years.
Wynn created his Las Vegas Strip, including a casino and resort empire in the late 1980s. Wynn and his former company, Mirage Resorts, originally bought the artworks for the Bellagio Gallery of Fine Art and the Picasso-themed restaurant for the hotel-casino's inauguration in 1998.
Wynn sold Mirage Resorts and the Bellagio to MGM Resorts International in 2000. All the Picasso artworks were transferred to the MGM franchise, and remained at the restaurant. MGM's Bellagio Gallery of Fine Art displays contemporary art and rotating exhibitions. Wynn, meanwhile, continues to collect and deal art through his own company, Wynn Fine Art.
The American tycoon wanted visitors to be inspired by key fine art works, and hoped that Las Vegas could become a new cultural hub. Masterpieces in the collection included artists such as Pablo Picasso, Henri Matisse, Vincent Van Gogh, Andy Warhol, Keith Haring, Roy Lichtenstein and Mark Rothko.
One of these artists was Picasso, whose paintings were auctioned and coincided with his 140th birthday. The sale's top three lots (below) fetched more than US$10 million dollars.
Lot 11 | Pablo Picasso | Femme au beret rouge-orange, Oil and ripolin on canvas
Created on 14 January 1938
46 x 38.1 cm
Provenance:
- Estate of the artist
- Marina Picasso (by descent from the above)
- Sale: Christie’s, New York, November 10, 1987, Lot 44
- Thomas Ammann Fine Art AG, Zurich
- Galerie Urban, Paris (acquired from the above in 1989)
- Itochu Gallery, Tokyo
- Acquavella Galleries, New York (acquired from the above 1997)
- Mirage Resorts, Las Vegas (acquired from the above in July 1998)
- Acquired from the above
Estimate: US$20,000,000 – 30,000,000
Hammer Price: US$35,000,000
Sold: US$40,479,000
This painting was estimated at US$20 to 30 million dollars. The auctioneer started the bidding at US$15 million dollars and attracted four bidders. The bidding increment started at US$1 million dollars, and after 17 bids, the bidding price reached US$32 million dollars.
The bidding increment then reduced to US$500,000 dollars. After six further bids, the hammer was dropped at US$35 million dollars – above its high estimate.
The winning bid was won by Aliyya Stude, Head of Sotheby's Houston, on behalf of a client entrusted by the telephone. The painting was sold at US$40.4 million dollars, with buyer's premium.
Painted in January of 1938, Femme au beret rouge-orange stands as a crowning achievement during one of Picasso’s most emphatically inspired and productive periods. The formal experimentation and emotional intensity that characterise his most celebrated portraits of women are embodied in Femme au beret rouge-orange. The artist’s lover is shown in profile, but with her features presented frontally in the style that he had pioneered in his earlier portraits of Marie-Therese. He employs a bold palette and an emphatic handling of paint that mark this work out from the depictions of the early 1930s and chart Picasso’s evolving relationship with his muse.
Lot 6 | Pablo Picasso | Homme et enfant, Oil and ripolin on canvas
Created on 4 July 1969
195 x 130 cm
Provenance:
- Galerie Louise Leiris, Paris
- Galerie Daniel Malingue, Paris
- Mirage Resorts, Las Vegas (acquired from the above on July 8, 1999)
- Acquired from the above
Estimate: US$20,000,000 – 30,000,000
Hammer Price: US$21,000,000
Sold: US$24,393,000
The second most expensive lot was Homme et enfant. Similar to Femme au beret rouge-orange, this painting's estimate was also US$20 to 30 million dollars. The auctioneer started the bidding at US$16 million dollars. After six bids, the hammer was dropped at US$21 million dollars. In the end, the painting was sold for approximately US$24.4 million dollars with buyer's premium. Gregoire Billault, Head of Sotheby's New York Contemporary Art Department, won the bid for his client.
Standing at nearly two meters tall and painted with gestural brushstrokes, the painting is an example of the artist’s achievements during this final stage of his career.
The palette is rich and warm, full of the Mediterranean sun, and with the colour broken down into expressive and richly hued passages of paint. Brushstrokes are emphatically and energetically applied; Picasso’s marking is vivid here, with the customary beard and hair of the man worked in a single brushstroke of patterned curls and the figures’ bodies delineated in definitive black lines.
Lot 7 | Pablo Picasso | Nature morte au panier de fruits et aux fleurs, Oil on canvas
Created on 2 August 1942
73 x 92 cm
Provenance:
- The Artist (until at least 1946)
- Private Collection
- PaceWildenstein, New York (acquired from the above)
- Mirage Resorts, Las Vegas (acquired from the above on April 10, 1998)
- Acquired from the above
Estimate: US$10,000,000 – 15,000,000
Hammer Price: US$14,250,000
Sold: US$16,637,250
This still-life painting was sold for US$16.6 million dollars, and ranked third in the sale.
This painting was created during the Nazi occupation of Paris in 1942. The Spanish Cubist painter was prohibited from exhibiting his works until Salon d’Automne in 1944. His experience during the German occupation caused him to look inward and focus on themes of life and death.
The MGM Group highlighted that the purpose of auctioning these Picasso paintings was to reorganise and diversify the group's art collection. As for the Picasso-themed restaurant in the Bellagio Hotel, another 12 Picasso artworks will be displayed.
Other highlight lots:
Lot 8 | Pablo Picasso | Buste d’homme, Oil and ripolin on canvas
Created on 10 September 1969
130 x 97 cm
Provenance:
- Estate of the artist
- Galerie Louise Leiris, Paris
- Private Collection, Switzerland
- Mirage Resorts, Las Vegas (acquired from the above on September 19, 1997)
- Acquired from the above
Estimate: US$10,000,000 – 15,000,000
Hammer Price: US$8,000,000
Sold: US$9,456,000
Lot 9 | Pablo Picasso | Nature morte aux fleurs et au compotier, Oil on canvas
Created on 14 September 1943
81 x 100 cm
Provenance:
- The Artist (until at least 1946)
- Private Collection
- PaceWildenstein, New York (acquired from the above)
- Mirage Resorts, Las Vegas (acquired from the above on April 10, 1998)
- Acquired from the above
Estimate: US$6,000,000 – 8,000,000
Hammer Price: US$6,800,000
Sold: US$8,307,000
Auction Details:
Auction House: Sotheby's New York
Auction Location: Bellagio Hotel and Casino, Las Vegas
Sale: Picasso Masterworks from MGM Resorts' Fine Art Collection
Date: 23 October 2021
Number of lots: 11
Sold: 11
Sale Rate: 100%
Sale Total: US$108,873,350