Picasso painting fetches $31 million in NY auction

"Le Sauvetage" by Pablo Picasso is on display during a preview of Sotheby's impressionist and modern art evening sale in New York, May 2, 2014. Sotheby's is to hold it's impressionist and modern art evening sale on May 7, 2014. AFP PHOTO/Emmanuel Dunand

What you need to know:

  • The surrealist master's enigmatic work — which was last sold a decade ago — went under the hammer for $31.525 million following frenzied bidding over several minutes.

NEW YORK

Pablo Picasso's 1932 oil painting "Le Sauvetage" sold at auction for more than $31 million on Wednesday after a bidding war at Sotheby's in New York which saw it surge past its estimated pre-sale price.

The surrealist master's enigmatic work — which was last sold a decade ago — went under the hammer for $31.525 million following frenzied bidding over several minutes.

The painting had been expected to fetch between $14 million and $18 million.

The painting was part of 14 Picasso works offered by Sotheby's as part of its auction of Impressionist and Modern Art.

In total, eight lots were sold for an aggregate $62.088 million.

However one of the lots expected to generate most activity — Picasso's "Tete de Marie-Therese" ("Head of Marie-Therese"), valued between $15 million and $20 million, failed to find a buyer.

Another important work "La Seance du Matin" by French master Henri Matisse, sold for $19.205 million, just below its lower estimate of $20 million.

A canvas by French impressionist Claude Monet, "Le Pont Japonais" ("The Japanese Bridge") meanwhile fetched $15.845 million, in line with its estimated range of between $12 million and $18 million.

Sotheby's reported total sales of just under $219 million.