Picasso masterpiece begins pre-auction tour in Dubai

DUBAI: A Pablo Picasso masterpiece expected to fetch at least $120 million at auction went on show on Monday in Dubai, kicking off a set of rare viewings outside the United States.

“Femme a la montre”, the 1932 portrait of Marie-Therese Walter, Picasso´s mistress and “golden muse”, is being exhibited for two days before heading to Hong Kong and London, a boon for the United Arab Emirates´ bid to establish itself as a cultural powerhouse.

The viewing is “the first time a painting of this calibre by the world-renowned artist has ever been exhibited in the UAE”, Sotheby´s Dubai said in a statement, noting it is the first time the portrait had been shown outside the United States in half a century.

“Over the years the UAE has earned the status of being a global art destination, which receives a further boost as this rare Picasso is unveiled here,” said UAE Culture Minister Sheikh Salem bin Khalid al-Qassimi.

“Femme a la montre” will be sold in November as part of a two-day auction of late New Yorker Emily Fisher Landau´s prestigious collection.

Walter met Picasso in Paris in 1927, when the Spaniard was still married to Russian-Ukrainian ballet dancer Olga Khokhlova, and when Walter was 17.

Walter, whose daughter with Picasso died last year, also featured in “Femme assise pres d´une fenetre (Marie-Therese)”, which was sold in 2021 for $103.4 million by Christie´s auction house.