Picasso's £18 million painting of mistress on sale...

Picasso's £18m painting of mistress and muse Marie-Therese Walker that cost artist his marriage

By PAUL HARRIS
Last updated at 11:07 AM on 1st February 2011

As chat-up lines go, it certainly takes some beating.

‘I am Picasso,’ the artist told the 17-year-old girl. ‘You and I are going to do beautiful things together.’

More than 80 years later, the story of Marie-Therese Walter and her affair with the stranger who took her by the arm that day outside a Paris Metro station is on the way to becoming one of art’s most lucrative encounters.

Inspired by love: La Lecture by Picasso depicts his mistress Marie-Therese Walter asleep in a chair

Lucrative encounter: Pablo Picasso's 1932 portrait of his teenage mistress Marie-Therese Walter, entitled La Lecture, at Sotheby's. It is expected to sell for up to £18million

This landmark painting of the teenager who became his lover is to go on sale next week with an estimate of up to £18million. It is one of a series of works that Marie-Therese inspired. The last one sold at auction – Nude, Green Leaves And Bust – made £70million.

This is the first time that La Lecture, which depicts his mistress asleep in an armchair, has been unveiled in London.

It was the painting that teasingly introduced his young Parisian muse as part of Picasso’s life and work.

Artist and his muse: Pablo Picasso and Marie-Therese Walter met in 1927 and kept their relationship secret for years

He was 45 – and married – when they met in 1927, and kept their relationship secret for years.

She knew nothing about him before they met, but became one of his work’s strongest influences.

Before Christmas of 1931 and New Year of 1932, her features appeared in his paintings only in coded form. However, this January 1932 picture uses the curves of her body to transform her into a graceful ‘sleeping beauty’, and was the first in a succession that eventually betrayed her identity.

Picasso’s wife, Olga, suddenly realised the facial features were not her own. The marriage later broke up.

Although La Lecture, sold by an American collector, is expected to fetch $29million at Sotheby’s in London on February 8, art prices have been soaring, largely thanks to interest from China..

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1352242/Picassos-18m-painting-Marie-Therese-Walter-unveiled.html#ixzz1CiNkGgiq