"Femme Assise Pres d'Une Fenetre (Marie-Therese)" by Pablo Picasso (centre). Photo: ReutersAn oil painting by Pablo Picasso sold for $US103.4 million ($NZ142.9m) at a Christie's auction in New York, smashing its presale estimate of $55 million. The portrait of Picasso's French lover Marie-Therese, "Femme assise près d'une fenêtre (Marie-Thérèse)", or 'Woman sitting near a window,' led the '20th Century Evening Sale' on Thursday. After an intense bidding war, the Picasso was snapped up by an online bidder in California, Christie's said. Thursday's auction, which was streamed live from the Rockefeller Center, marked the fifth work by the Spanish painter to have sold for more than $100 million.

Source: Otago Daily Times May 15, 2021 01:52 UTC