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A Picasso portrait of a nightclub singer which features a second painting on the reverse has sold for $US67.45 million in New York, scoring a windfall for American billionaire Bill Koch.
The image remained hidden under the lining of the main painting for a century until it was uncovered during conservation work in 2000.
Picasso painted La Gommeuse after his friend Carlos Casagemas’s suicide in 1901, and as he and Manach threw themselves into the debauchery of Paris life.
Works from the painter’s 1901-1904 Blue Period rarely come up for sale.The painting had been in the private collection of US billionaire and art collector Bill Koch.
Simon Shaw, co-head of Impressionist and modern art worldwide, called it “a small sale that packed a real punch”.
He added: “Each season Picasso has the remarkable ability to surprise, and tonight was no exception, with the unusual appearance of two Blue Period works, which set new benchmarks – both in oil and on paper.”
Agencies/Canadajournal
