"Femme au Fauteuil N. 1 (d'Après le Rouge)," 1949

"Femme au Fauteuil N. 1 (d'Après le Rouge)," 1949, one of Picasso's works depicting his lover Françoise Gilot as a regal beauty in serene domesticity.

A rarely-seen Picasso "Jeune Fille Endormie" to be sold at Christie’s

A painting by Pablo Picasso of his lover, Marie-Thérèse Walter, is expected to bring a windfall to the University of Sydney next week when it goes under the hammer at a Christie’s auction in London. The estimated price: £9 million to £12 million (US$14.5 million to US$19.4 million).

Called “Jeune Fille Endormie,” the painting was given to the university in 2010 by an anonymous donor on the condition that it be sold and the proceeds used to promote scientific research. Painted in 1935 and showing Marie-Therese asleep, the expressionist work has rarely been seen in public.

According to Sydney University, it was originally acquired by Walter P Chrysler Jr., son of the founder of Chrysler Corp., soon after it was painted and changed hands only once more up until last year. Although it was shown in public a few times in the U.S. between 1939 and 1941, it has been held in a private collection ever since.

“This is an absolute jewel of a painting by one of the great artistic geniuses of Western art and we are pleased to be able to support the University of Sydney by offering it at auction,” Giovanna Bertazzoni, director and head of Impressionist and Modern Art at Christie’s London, said in a statement.

Another portrait of Marie-Thérèse, “Nude, Green Leaves and Bust,” was sold at Christie’s in New York last year for US$106.5 million, a record price for a work of art at auction.

“Marie-Thérèse is now almost the ‘mythical lover’ of the artist and there is a special attraction for this series by Picasso,” Ms. Bertazzoni said.

Dr. Michael Spence, vice chancellor of the University of Sydney, said proceeds from the sale would “create multiple endowed chairs across several disciplines within a new multidisciplinary university center” dedicated to research on obesity, diabetes and cardiovascular disease.

Christie’s will auction Picasso’s masterpiece at its evening sale of Impressionist and Modern Art on June 21 in London.

NYC exhibit "Picasso and Marie-Thérèse: L'Amour Fou."

Gagosian West 21st St. gallery, New York, through June 25, 2011

In 1927 (she was 17), Marie-Thérèse Walter met Pablo Picasso; she would become his mistress and model. More than 80 works that she inspired appear in "Picasso and Marie-Thérèse: L'Amour Fou."

Marie-Thérèse: L'Amour Fou

Six works by Pablo Picasso, spanning the artist's long career from 1901 to 1970, going on sale at Sotheby's

Millions of pounds worth of art by modern masters from Pablo Picasso to David Hockney have gone on display in London ahead of a Sotheby's auction in New York next month. The Picassos span the entirety of his career from 1901 to 1970.

"Femmes Lisant (Deux Personnages)" (1934) by Pablo Picasso. The work will lead Sotheby's May Impressionist and Modern art sale in New York and is estimated to bring $25 million to $35 million.

“Femmes Lisant (Deux Personnages)” depicts Marie-Therese Walter as a blue-faced, supple figure reading a book with another woman. It’s the top lot in Sotheby’s Impressionist and modern art sale on May 3. The evening auction is expected to tally more than $150 million, the New York-based company said.

The market in this mistress has surged in the past year. The 1932 “Nude, Green Leaves and Bust” went for $106.5 million -- a record for any work of art at auction -- at Christie’s International in New York last May. Sotheby’s in London sold the 1932 “La Lecture” for 25.2 million pounds ($40.6 million) in February. Gagosian gallery will open the “Picasso and Marie- Therese: L’amour fou” exhibition on April 14 in New York’s Chelsea district.

“These are images of desire and rapture,” said Simon Shaw, senior vice president and head of Sotheby’s Impressionist and modern art department in New York. Referring to “La Lecture,” he said, “the picture we just sold generated a huge competition; there were seven bidders.”

“Femmes Lisant,” with its vibrant palette and at least one sexual innuendo, was consigned by an anonymous private collector who bought it in 1981 from the Pace Gallery in New York. It had originally come from the Picasso estate.

Married and 45, Picasso spotted Walter in 1927 on a Paris street when she was 17. She would be the artist’s greatest love for the next decade, inspiring numerous paintings and sculptures, according to John Richardson, Picasso’s biographer.

Picasso's "Enfant Dans Sa Voiture, February 20, 1949."

Pablo Picasso/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York, Maurice Aeschimann/ Gagosian Gallery, Private Collection

Les Demoiselles d'Avignon (1907)

Les Demoiselles d'Avignon (The Young Ladies of Avignon, and originally titled The Brothel of Avignon)

Year	1907
Type	Oil on canvas
Dimensions	243.9 cm × 233.7 cm (96 in × 92 in)
Location	Museum of Modern Art. Acquired through the  Lillie P. Bliss Bequest, New York City

portrays five nude female prostitutes from a brothel on Carrer d'Avinyó (Avinyó Street) in Barcelona. Each figure is depicted in a disconcerting confrontational manner and none are conventionally feminine. 

The women appear as slightly menacing and rendered with angular and disjointed body shapes. Two are shown with African mask-like faces and three more with faces in the Iberian style of Picasso's native Spain, giving them a savage aura. 

In this adaptation of Primitivism and abandonment of perspective in favor of a flat, two-dimensional picture plane, Picasso makes a radical departure from traditional European painting. The work is widely considered to be seminal in the early development of both Cubism and modern art. Demoiselles was revolutionary and controversial, and led to wide anger and disagreement, even amongst his closest associates and friends.

Painted in Paris during the summer of 1907, Picasso had created hundreds of sketches and studies in preparation for the final work. He long acknowledged the importance of Spanish art and Iberian sculpture as influences on the painting. The work is believed by critics to be influenced by African tribal masks and the art of Oceania, although Picasso denied the connection; many art historians remain skeptical about his denials. Several experts maintain that, at the very least, Picasso visited the Musée d'Ethnographie du Trocadéro (known today as Musée de l'Homme) in the spring of 1907 where he saw and was unconsciously influenced by African and Tribal art several months before completing Demoiselles. Some critics argue that the painting was a reaction to Henri Matisse's Le bonheur de vivre and Blue Nude.

Its resemblance to Cézanne's Les Grandes Baigneuses, Paul Gauguin's statue Oviri and El Greco's Opening of the Fifth Seal has been widely discussed by later critics. At the time of its first exhibition in 1916, the painting was deemed immoral. In the nine years since its creation, Picasso had always referred to it as Le Bordel d'Avignon, but art critic André Salmon, which managed its first exposition, retitled it Les Demoiselles d'Avignon to lessen its scandalous impact on the public. Picasso never liked Salmon's title, and as an edulcoration would have preferred las chicas de Avignon instead.

Le Rêve ("The Dream") 1932

Le Rêve (The Dream in French)

Year	1932
Type	Oil on canvas
Dimensions	130 cm × 97 cm
Location

Pablo Picasso, then 50 years old, portrayed his 24-year-old mistress Marie-Thérèse Walter. It is said to have been painted in one afternoon, on January 24, 1932.

It belongs to Picasso's period of distorted depictions, with its oversimplified outlines and contrasted colors resembling early Fauvism.

The erotic content of the painting has been noted repeatedly, with critics pointing out that Picasso painted an erect penis, presumably symbolizing his own, in the upturned face of his model.