Picasso Painting of Muse Dora Maar Comes to Auction for the First Time

A portrait by Pablo Picasso of his lover and muse Dora Maar will be sold at auction for the first time at a Phillips evening sale in May in New York and is estimated to realize as much as US$18 million.

Buste de femme au chapeau, 1939, depicts Maar, whom Picasso met in 1935 and remained with for a decade. Buste de femme remained in Picasso’s personal collection until he died in 1973, when Galerie Beyeler in Switzerland took ownership of the piece and kept it alongside other works from the artist’s Femmes au chapeau series, according to Phillips.

The piece has been in the same collection for the last 30 years, according to Jean-Paul Engelen, president, Americas, and worldwide co-head of modern and contemporary art for Phillips.

According to Phillips, the painting, only 24 inches by 15 inches, employs techniques from Cubism, and contains elements familiar to Picasso’s paintings of Marr, “including his distinctive rendering of her eyes, strong line of her nose, and radical combinations of frontal and profile views.”

Untitled (ELMAR), 1982, by Jean-Michel Basquiat.
Phillips

Phillips’ modern and contemporary evening sale on May 14 will also include three previously announced works by Jean-Michel Basquiat, including a large painting from the early 1980s, Untitled (ELMAR) , 1982, that could sell for more than US$60 million.

Barclay L. Hendricks’ 1977 work, Vendetta.
Phillips

Also in the sale is Barclay L. Hendricks’ 1977 work, Vendetta, with an estimate between US$2.5 million and US$3.5 million. The painting was featured in the artist’s first career retrospective, and toured across the U.S. from 2008 to 2009. Hendricks’ works rarely come to auction, and Engelen expects increased interest given a recent exhibition of the artist’s works at the Frick Collection in New York.

A 1978 Donald Judd “stacks” sculpture set in stainless steel and yellow fluorescent Plexiglas.
Phillips

Lastly, two sculpture “stacks” from Donald Judd will be sold. A 1978 set in stainless steel and yellow fluorescent Plexiglas, described as a “signature” piece by the artist completed when he was near the top of his career, is estimated to sell for between US$5.5 million and US$7.5 million. The second is a 1994 six-part set composed of Cor-ten steel and black Plexiglas finished just before the artist’s death early that year. It carries an estimate of US$2 million to US$3 million.

For self-employed Australians, navigating the mortgage market can be complex—especially when income documentation doesn’t fit the standard mould. In this guide, Stephen Andrianakos, Director of Red Door Financial Group, outlines eight flexible loan structures designed to support business owners, freelancers, and entrepreneurs.

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Red Door Financial Group is a Melbourne-based brokerage firm that offers personalised financial solutions for residential, commercial, and business lending.