{"id":238270,"date":"2025-10-24T19:29:11","date_gmt":"2025-10-24T19:29:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/238270\/"},"modified":"2025-10-24T19:29:11","modified_gmt":"2025-10-24T19:29:11","slug":"picasso-portrait-of-muse-dora-maar-in-vivid-hat-long-hidden-from-view-sells-for-57-million","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/238270\/","title":{"rendered":"Picasso portrait of muse Dora Maar in vivid hat, long hidden from view, sells for $57 million"},"content":{"rendered":"

A vividly hued Picasso portrait of longtime muse and partner Dora Maar that had remained out of view for more than eight decades sold at auction on Friday for \u20ac32 million ($57 million), including fees.<\/p>\n

Painted in July 1943, Bust of a Woman with a Flowered Hat (Dora Maar) depicts Maar in a brightly colored floral hat.<\/p>\n

Maar, an artist and photographer herself, had been Picasso’s partner and muse for about seven years, and the relationship was coming to a painful close.<\/p>\n

\"AArt expert Agnes Sevestre-Barbe, right, and auction officer Christophe Lucien, display a rediscovered Picasso painting “Bust of a Woman in a Flowery Hat”, Wednesday, Oct. 22, 2025 in Paris. (AP Photo\/Emma Da Silva)<\/p>\n

The work was purchased in 1944 and had not been on the market since, remaining in the family collection.<\/p>\n

The painting was auctioned at the Drouot auction house, which called the reappearance of the work, part of Picasso’s Woman in a Hat series, “a moment of rare significance, revealing for the first time the full radiance of a work long kept secret”.<\/p>\n

At a preview this week, Picasso specialist Agnes Sevestre-Barb\u00e9 marvelled at how vivid the portrait has remained.<\/p>\n

\"AArt expert Agnes Sevestre-Barbe points to a rediscovered Picasso painting “Bust of a Woman in a Flowery Hat”, Wednesday, Oct. 22, 2025 in Paris. (AP Photo\/Emma Da Silva)<\/p>\n

“We have a painting that is exactly as it was when it left the studio,” she said.<\/p>\n

“It wasn’t varnished, which means we have all its raw material, all of it. It’s a painting where you can feel all the colors, the entire chromatic range.”<\/p>\n

“It’s a painting that speaks for itself,” she added. “You just have to look at it \u2014 it’s full of expression, and you can see all of Picasso’s genius.”<\/p>\n

Previously, Sevestre-Barb\u00e9 noted, the work had only been seen in a black-and-white photograph.<\/p>\n

\"AThe rediscovered Picasso painting “Bust of a Woman in a Flowery Hat” is presented Wednesday, Oct. 22, 2025 in Paris (AP Photo\/Emma Da Silva)<\/p>\n

“We couldn’t imagine from this photo that this painting was so colorful, so amazing, really.”<\/p>\n

Auctioneer Christophe Lucien said before the sale that the work was of huge interest across the globe.<\/p>\n

“It’s being talked about in all the world capitals with a strong art market, from the United States to Asia, and of course through all the major European markets,” he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A vividly hued Picasso portrait of longtime muse and partner Dora Maar that had remained out of view…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":238271,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[449,458,459,64,63,460,134],"class_list":{"0":"post-238270","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-arts-and-design","8":"tag-arts","9":"tag-arts-and-design","10":"tag-artsanddesign","11":"tag-au","12":"tag-australia","13":"tag-design","14":"tag-entertainment"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/238270","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=238270"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/238270\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/238271"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=238270"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=238270"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=238270"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}