HONG KONG: A rare Picasso believed to be a self-portrait created when he was under threat of deportation to a Nazi concentration camp is expected to fetch $70 million at auction, Christie’s said Friday as the work went on view in Hong Kong.
The oil painting “Le Marin” depicts a sad-looking man dressed in a blue and white striped sailor’s shirt sitting on a chair.
“You have ... a slightly dark sense around the picture. It’s nervous, it’s on edge and slightly gloomy,” said Conor Jordan, deputy chairman of impressionist and modern art at Christie’s.
The 130 by 81 centimeter (52 by 31 inch) vertical painting shows the man resting his head against his right hand, while his legs are crossed with his left hand on his knee.
“That’s a traditional symbol of melancholy,” Jordan added.
Created in 1943, during the Nazi occupation of France, the painting reflects the distress and anxiety of the Spanish painter who was under threat of being sent to a concentration camp in Germany.
Le Marin’s last appearance was 21 years ago at an auction of works from the collection of New York art collectors Victor and Sally Ganz.
The painting will be on view in Hong Kong until April 3 before traveling to London and then New York, where it will go under the hammer on May 15 as part of Christie’s Impressionist and Modern Art sale.
Le Marin is one of the five most important pieces by Picasso, according to Christie’s.
Last November, a series of 100 Picasso etchings which deal with his erotic obsessions and marital strife, as well as political turmoil in the 1930s, sold for 1.9 million euros ($2.2 million) in Paris to an unnamed American collector.
Picasso’s “The Women of Algiers (Version 0)” set a world record as the most expensive piece of art sold at auction when it fetched $179.4 million at Christie’s in New York in 2015.
Rare Picasso self-portrait expected to fetch $70 million
Rare Picasso self-portrait expected to fetch $70 million
Sotheby’s to hold second Saudi Arabia auction titled ‘Origins’
- 70 works by local, Mideast, international artists on Jan. 31
- Work of late Saudi artist Safeya Binzagr will also be on sale
DUBAI: Sotheby’s will have its second auction in Saudi Arabia on Jan. 31 featuring more than 70 works by leading local, Middle East and international artists.
Titled “Origins,” the sale will be staged again in Diriyah, the birthplace of the Kingdom and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The full selection will be available for free public viewing at Bujairi Terrace from Jan. 24.
The event coincides with the opening of the Diriyah Contemporary Art Biennale and comes just ahead of the debut of Art Basel Doha in February, marking Art Basel’s first fair in the Middle East.
The sale spans a wide range of collecting categories, including Ancient Sculpture, 20th-Century Design and Prints, Middle Eastern, Modern and Contemporary, Latin American, and Modern and Contemporary South Asian.
Ashkan Baghestani, Sotheby’s head of sale and contemporary art specialist, said in a recent press release that the second auction reflects the company’s continued commitment to Saudi Arabia’s growing ecosystem.
Among the headline lots is “Coffee Shop in Madina Road” (1968) by Safeya Binzagr (1940–2024), estimated at $150,000 to $200,000. She is considered one of Saudi Arabia’s pioneering artists and the “spiritual mother” of contemporary local art.
The piece comes from the collection of Alberto Mestas Garcia, Spain’s ambassador to Saudi Arabia from 1966 to 1976, and his wife, Mercedes Suarez de Tangil Guzman.
A 1989 untitled painting by Mohammed Al-Saleem (1939–1997), estimated at $150,000 to $200,000, is from a private collection in Bahrain. The work exemplifies his Horizonism style, inspired by desert landscapes, and follows his record $1.1 million sale at Sotheby’s London in 2023.
Also included is “Demonstration” (1968) by Iraqi modernist Mahmoud Sabri (1927–2012), estimated at $400,000 to $500,000. The work reflects Sabri’s socially engaged practice and combines social realism with Christian imagery in a charged depiction of mourning and protest.
Samia Halaby’s “Copper” (1976), estimated at $120,000 to $180,000, highlights the artist’s move toward abstraction in the 1970s. Halaby, born in Jerusalem and now based in the US, has works in major international collections and participated in the 60th Venice Biennale in 2024.
A rare early work by Egyptian artist Ahmed Morsi, “Deux Pecheurs” (“Two Fishermen”) (1954), is estimated at $120,000 to $180,000. Morsi’s works have appeared only five times at auction previously and are held in major museum collections worldwide.
International highlights include Pablo Picasso’s “Paysage” (1965), estimated at $2 million to $3 million. Painted in Mougins during the final decade of his life, the work reflects Picasso’s late engagement with landscape and his dialogue with art history.
Anish Kapoor’s large-scale concave mirror sculpture “Untitled” (2005), estimated at $600,000 to $800,000, is also offered. Executed during a period of major institutional recognition for the artist, the work comes from Kapoor’s iconic mirror series.
Andy Warhol’s “Disquieting Muses (After de Chirico) (1982), estimated at $800,000 to $1.2 million, reinterprets Giorgio de Chirico’s 1917 painting through Pop Art repetition. The sale includes Warhol’s set of four Muhammad Ali screenprints from 1978, estimated at $300,000 to $500,000.
Jean Dubuffet’s “Le soleil les decolore” (1947), estimated at $800,000 to $1.2 million, appears at auction for the first time. Painted after the artist’s travels in the Sahara, the work reflects his response to desert landscapes and nomadic life.
The auction will also feature seven works by Roy Lichtenstein from the personal collection of Dorothy and Roy Lichtenstein.
Leading the group are “Interior with Ajax (Study)” (1997), estimated at $600,000 to $800,000, and “The Great Pyramid Banner (Study)” (1980), estimated at $150,000 to $200,000.
