Jasper Johns 'Flag' leads art auction charge

A 1932 painting by Pablo Picasso has set a world art auction record after it sold for a staggering 106.4 million dollars, the auction house Christie's announced in New York.The Spanish master's painting, "Nu au Plateau de Sculpteur" ("Nude, Green Leaves and Bust"), had been expected to bring in 70-90 million dollars but soared past that figure to eclipse the record set in February, when Alberto Giacometti's "Walking Man I" sculpture sold in London for 104.3 million.

A 1932 painting by Pablo Picasso has set a world art auction record when it sold for a staggering 106.4 million dollars, the auction house Christie's announced.The Spanish master's painting, "Nu au Plateau de Sculpteur" ("Nude, Green Leaves and Bust") had been expected to bring in more than 80 million dollars, but soared past that figure to eclipse the record set in February, when Alberto Giacommetti's "Walking Man I" sculpture sold in London for 104.3 million.

A 1932 painting by Pablo Picasso has set a world art auction record when it sold for a staggering 106.4 million dollars, the auction house Christie's announced.The Spanish master's painting, "Nu au Plateau de Sculpteur" ("Nude, Green Leaves and Bust") had been expected to bring in more than 80 million dollars, but soared past that figure to eclipse the record set in February, when Alberto Giacommetti's "Walking Man I" sculpture sold in London for 104.3 million.

Pablo Picasso's "Nu au Plateau de Sculpteur" ("Nude, Green Leaves and Bust"), the world's most expensive painting, was to go on display Monday for the first time in Britain at London's Tate Modern museum.The 1932 painting set a world record when it was snapped up by a mystery bidder for 106.5 million dollars (76.2 million euros) at New York's Christie's auction house last May.It will be the first time the painting has been displayed anywhere since 1961 and prompted the famous London museum to create a new Pablo Picasso room to house the loaned work.

Pablo Picasso's 1932 portrait of his blonde mistress, "Nude, Green Leaves and Bust," sold for $106.4 million at Christie's in New York, setting a new world record for most expensive work of art at auction.

As Christie’s prepares to raise an estimated £100 million in one evening, Alice Vincent visits the auction house to find out how the rich buy art.

How it’s easier to sell something for $100m than for $1mRECORD prices make big headlines. And they don’t come bigger than the story of Christie’s sale in New York on May 4th in which eight private collectors, including one Russian and another from Asia, fought over a richly coloured portrait Pablo Picasso painted of his young mistress during an unusual spurt of creativity in the spring of 1932, when he was 50 years old.

A blue canvas self-portrait of Pop Art king Andy Warhol has fetched $38.4 million in a two-way bidding war at Christie's in New York.The 1963-1964 work, which shows Warhol wearing sunglasses in four panels, was the star of a brisk contemporary art sale at the auction power house. Christie's said it set a record for a self-portrait by the still hugely lucrative artist, who died in 1987.