Christie's Sale Picasso & Giacometti highlight the sale

At $106.5 Million, a Picasso Sets an Auction Record

Giacometti Sculptures bring higher amounts

A painting that Picasso created in a single day in March 1932 became the most expensive work of art ever sold at auction on Tuesday night.

In an overflowing salesroom at Christie's, six bidders vied for "Nude, Green Leaves and Bust," which depicts the artist's mistress Marie-Thérèse Walter, reclining naked. When the canvas last changed hands, in 1951, it sold for $19,800. But this time, "Nude, Green Leaves and Bust" brought $106.5 million.

For 8 minutes and 6 seconds, bidding rose steadily, with five people still competing at $80 million. Nicholas Hall, of Christie's old master paintings department in New York, took the winning bid for an unidentified buyer.

"Nude, Green Leaves and Bust" broke the record set a few months ago by "Walking Man I" - one of Alberto Giacometti's signature bronze sculptures. It brought $104.3 million at Sotheby's in London in February. Picasso had reigned before that when "Boy With a Pipe (The Young Apprentice)," a 1905 canvas from the artist's Rose Period, sold for $104.1 million at Sotheby's in New York in 2004.

"Nude, Green Leaves and Bust" is considered a seminal work from a high point of Picasso's career. Before the auction, experts at Christie's cautiously talked about a price around $80 million. On Tuesday night, Edward Dolman, Christie's chief executive, said, "The market is much stronger than we expected, with depth of buying from Russia, China and the Middle East." Mr. Dolman said most of the top works were bought by collectors living outside the United States.

Of the 69 works on offer, 13 failed to sell. The sale totaled $335.5 million. It had been expected to bring $262.7 million to $368 million. Final prices include the buyer's commission to Christie's: 25 percent of the first $50,000, 20 percent of the next $50,000 to $1 million and 12 percent of the rest. Estimates do not reflect commissions.

"Nude, Green Leaves and Bust" was being sold from the estate of the Los Angeles philanthropist Frances Lasker Brody. Mrs. Brody, who died in November, was the wife of Sidney F. Brody, a real estate developer who died in 1983. The Brodys' Modernist house in the Holmby Hills neighborhood was a showcase for their collection.

In addition to Picasso, the Brodys loved Giacometti. Two of his works from their collection also sold high on Tuesday, thanks in large part to "Walking Man I."

"That certainly injected an enormous amount of confidence," Mr. Dolman said. Four bidders tried to buy "Grande Tête Mince," a bust of the artist's brother, Diego, that was conceived in 1954 and cast a year later. Guy Bennett, a private New York dealer, bought the sculpture for $47.5 million, or $53.2 million with Christie's fees, well above its high $35 million estimate.

A Giacometti sculpture of a skulking cat, conceived in 1951 and cast in 1955, which had been expected to fetch $12 million to $18 million, brought $20.8 million. The bronze figure, nearly a yard long with its rich patina, is particularly desirable because the artist only made sculptures of two animals, cats and dogs, and they rarely come up for sale. Brett Gorvy, a co-head of Christie's postwar and contemporary art department, took the winning bid for a telephone buyer.

Christie's won the Brody estate over its archrival Sotheby's by offering the heirs a guarantee - an undisclosed sum promised to the seller regardless of the sale's outcome. And with that property, the auction house was able to persuade other collectors to sell.

Donald L. Bryant Jr., a New York businessman, decided to ride the Giacometti wave by selling "The Hand," a bronze sculpture with an open palm and thin, elongated, outstretched fingers, conceived in 1947 and cast in 1948; it brought $23 million, or $25.8 million with fees. It had been estimated to sell for $10 million to $15 million.

Late Picassos have been all the rage, and "Seated Woman With a Cat," a 1964 painting of the artist's wife, Jacqueline, with a small black cat in her lap, brought $16 million, or $18 million with Christie's fees, above its $15 million estimate.

The evening was not without some big disappointments. "Fertility," an 1899-1900 painting by Edvard Munch depicting a male and female with blank faces posed under a tree, was expected to fetch $25 million to $35 million. But the painting failed to sell; bidding stopped at $23 million.

But it was the record-setting Picasso that captivated the audience. Before the sale, dealers said several prominent collectors were thought to be bidding on it, including Kenneth C. Griffin, chief executive of the Citadel Investment Group in Chicago; Leslie H. Wexner, the Columbus, Ohio, collector; Steven A. Cohen, the Connecticut hedge-fund billionaire; Joseph Lau, a Hong Kong collector; and Roman Abramovich, the Russian financier. But who took home the painting is a mystery for now.