The 140 Million Dollar Eulogy

By Reed V. Horth for Robin Rile Fine Art

A few days ago, my wife’s Linkedin Profile boasted this photo of Pablo Picasso’s 1955 masterpiece “Les Femmes d’Algers, Version O“, which is estimated to fetch over $140m at the upcoming Christie’s New York auction on 11 May. For me, it was like seeing an old friend. Her face had been drunk in and every nuance studied when I was a young art historian holed up in my first gallery in 1996/97. It was in 1997 that the prominent Victor and Sally Ganz collection arrived at Christie’s New York. The collection a smorgasbord of fantastic collecting prowess for collectors who, while certainly not poor, were not thought of as fantastically wealthy either. They simply had a wonderful eye for quality and a distinctive flair for choosing just the right works for their personal collection. Eva Hesse, Robert Rauschenberg, Jasper Johns, Frank Stella, Brice Marden and whole lot of really, really prominent Pablo Picasso works. In their “red room” hung four versions of ” Les Femmes d’Algers”. Following the death of Henri Matisse in 1955, Picasso coopted masterworks of Velasquez, Ingres and Delacroix, (among others) to measure himself against the masters and pay homage to his friend/rival Matisse with whom countless hours were spent discussing the works and artists. Picasso once stated, “All things considered, there was only Matisse,” and “There are a number of things I shall no longer be able to talk about with anyone after Matisse’s death” [R. Penrose “Picasso: His Life and Work, London 1958. Pg. 396]. While he completed series’ on Velasquez’ “Las Meninas” and Manet’s “Le dejeuner sur l’herbe”, his “Les Femmes d’Algers” was undoubtedly the apex of this theme. And “O” was the best of the lot.


Some were monochromatic messes which obscured of the underlying theme. Others lacked a cohesive brushstroke and seemed somehow “unfinished”. Or, as Leo Steinberg wrote of them, “Picasso’s intent oscillates between professional and erotic. Conventional sex symbols, forthright as a schoolboy’s graffiti, become the material of sophisticated coordination.” [L. Steinberg, Other Criteria: Confrontations with 20th Century Art, New York, 1971, pg. 149]. Where others were muddy, “O” was different. It did not straddle the others clumsily, but instead took the best elements of each and coherently reassembled them into a complete thought. “O” had sturdy lines and confident colors. It featured the unmistakable visage of his new lover Jacqueline. It eulogized Matisse, whose colors were so brilliantly stolen. This was the painting which spoke directly to what Picasso was.

The Ganz’s bought all 15 “Les Femmes d’Algers” canvases from Picasso’s dealer Daniel-Henry Kahnweiler in 1956 for a total of $212,500. However, they quickly realized that their home would not fit all 15, nor could they particularly afford to keep them as a group. So, they immediately sold 10 to the Saidenberg Gallery, keeping only versions C, H, K, M and O for themselves. In 1997, Christie’s New York sold Version O to London dealer Libby Howe for $31.9M, on behalf of an unknown collector. Now, as part of an experimental curation organized by Loic Gouzer of Christie’s Postwar and Contemporary Art Department, the painting carries a pre-sale estimate of $140M and is on track to be the most expensive painting ever sold at auction.


All things considered, I think Matisse would be impressed.

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Reed V. Horth, is the president, curator and writer for ROBIN RILE FINE ART in Miami, FL. He has been a private dealer, gallerist and blogger since 1996, specializing in 20th century and contemporary masters. www.robinrile.com

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