PICASSO'S LA LECTURE SELLS FOR RECORD £25,241,250

TONIGHT, SOTHEBY'S IMPRESSIONIST & MODERN EVENING SALE WAS LED BY PABLO PICASSO'S ICONIC 1932 PAINTING OF MARIE-THERESE WALTER, LA LECTURE, WHICH SOLD TO A ROUND OF APPLAUSE FOR £25,241,250 /$40,711,612, MORE THAN DOUBLE THE LOW ESTIMATE OF £12 – 18 MILLION/$18.5-27.8 MILLION. FOLLOWING A HEATED BIDDING CONTEST THAT LASTED SIX MINUTES AMONG AT LEAST SEVEN BIDDERS, BOTH ON THE PHONE AND IN THE SALESROOM, THE WORK FINALLY SOLD TO AN ANONYMOUS BUYER BIDDING OVER THE TELEPHONE. ACHIEVING A STRONG TOTAL OF £68,834,400 / $111,023,004, WELL WITHIN THE PRE-SALE ESTIMATE OF £55,630,000 - 79,250,000, THE SALE WAS 84.5% SOLD BY VALUE. THE SALE OF LA LECTURE BROUGHT THE PAINTING TO EUROPE FOR THE FIRST TIME SINCE IT WAS PAINTED IN 1932. IT IS ONE OF A SERIES OF DEFINING WORKS IN THE ARTIST'S OEUVRE IN WHICH HE INTRODUCES HIS YOUNG LOVER MARIE-THERESE WALTER AS A RECOGNIZABLE FIGURE. THE COUPLE'S RELATIONSHIP WAS KEPT A WELL-GUARDED SECRET FOR MANY YEARS, BOTH ON THE ACCOUNT OF THE FACT THAT PICASSO WAS THEN STILL MARRIED TO OLGA AND BECAUSE OF MARIE-THERES'S AGE, SHE WAS 17 AT THE TIME THEIR RELATIONSHIP BEGAN. UNTIL THE PERIOD IN WHICH THE WORK WAS PAINTED, MARIE-THERESE ONLY EVER APPEARED IN PICASSO'S WORKS IN CODE, HER FEATURES OFTEN EMBEDDED IN THE BACKGROUND OF HIS PAINTINGS. BUT BY THE END OF 1931, PICASSO COULD NO LONGER REPRESS THE CREATIVE IMPULSE THAT HIS LOVER INSPIRED, AND OVER CHRISTMAS AND NEW YEAR 1931 AND '32, MARIE-THERESE EMERGED, FOR THE FIRST TIME, IN FULLY RECOGNIZABLE, LANGUOROUS FORM.