28/09/2001
by Matilde Marzotto

A large retrospective of the work of Pablo Picasso has just opened at the Palazzo Reale in Milan, in the same rooms where an exhibition of the artist was held in 1953. Back then the show was the first opportunity to see his work in Italy following the second world war. Of historical note Picasso then wanted his painting Guernica to be shown in the Palazzo Reale’s Caryatid’s Room, which ten years after the war was still bearing visible traces of bomb damage. At this year’s exhibition in Milan, works belonging to the artist’s heirs will be shown in public for the first time, following the Erotic Picasso show held at the Jeu de Paume in Paris last spring (which will be at the Picasso Museum in Barcelona from the 16^th of October to the 20^th of January) and the Swiss show, Picasso under the Sun of Mitra, which opened in July at the Gianadda di Martigny Foundation. The plethora of exhibitions bear witness to the public fascination with Picasso, fuelling interest in the artist and contributing to rising prices on the international art market.

Last year, 2 canvases were auctioned at Christie’s New York for resounding sums. In May 2000, a 1932 Still Life with Tulips went under the hammer for over $ 28,606,000 (31,320,700), only to be eclipsed by A Woman with Arms Folded from 1901-1902, which changed hands for $ 55,006,000 (€ 60,228,000), the highest price ever paid for a Picasso and the fifth highest-priced painting of all time. Works from the artist’s "blue period", the symbolist phase, covering the early years of his time in Bohemian Paris, appear to command the highest prices, but not all of Picasso’s work sell at these levels. Results from the recent auctions in New York in May this year, slightly dampened last season’s enthusiasm, albeit turning out to be an accurate barometer of collector’s taste: No buyer could be found for the 1920’s painting, Three Women at a Fountain, estimated at about $ 1,800,000-2,500,000 (€ 1,970,100-2,737,870) by Phillips, while two days later a portrait of his wife Olga, valued at about $ 28-30 million (€ 30,664,300-32,863,360) was offered at auction by Christie’s but incredibly, failed to find a buyer. The flop may well be accounted for by the excessive prices and lukewarm enthusiasm shown by collectors for works from the artist’s neoclassical phase.

On the same occasion, however some paintings from the 1930’s and 1940’s enjoyed strong results: Seated Woman, a small portrait dated 1939, from the collection of Stanley J. Seeger, went for $ 2,865,750 (€ 3,138,300) at Sotheby’s, New York while a 1940 gouache, Bust of a Woman, sold at Christie’s, New York for over $ 3,966,000 (€ 4,345,360). Of course this million-dollar price range is only the tip of an otherwise much wider and varied market. Prices for the Spanish artist, as shown by the variety and large number of pieces that go to auction every year (about 45 paintings in 2001 alone, with the number set to grow in the autumn sales) are set to rise higher. It is yet to be seen how the market will be affected by economic trends but on the whole the Picasso market appears to be growing. As can be seen from the growth charts tracking the progress of auctions over the last ten years, drawing data from the Gabrius Data Bank, the trend would seem to be on the up.

Given all this, even works from the 1950’s, which make up the bulk of the Milan show and the centre of Picasso’s artistic production, appear to curry favour with the collectors who are happy to spend over $ 500,000 (€ 547,900) for good quality pieces. In 1999, a portrait of his daughter Paloma, dating slightly later than the two oils of the same subject on show in Milan (Paloma Asleep, 1952 and Paloma with Red Background – Girl Playing with a Car, 1953) fetched $ 1,373,180 (€ 1,504,700) at Sotheby’s, London; and on the 26^th of June Christie’s, London sold Woman Seated in an Armchair, a painting from 1953, for $ 2,022,540 (€ 2,216,470), doubling the quoted starting price of $ 880,100-1,173,400 (€ 964,540-1,286,100).

A Picasso painting would therefore seem to be a very good investment, destined to maintain its value over time and in many cases, offer a good return on capital. And that applies whether we’re talking about the multi million-dollar canvases which regularly cause a stir, or more modestly priced works that enrich one’s own collection. The last year has seen quite a few paintings that have gone to auction and sold for under a $ 300,000 (€ 328,750), including a small oil from the Cubist period, Frochot Avenue, View From Picasso’s Studio, which was sold at Sotheby’s New York in May for $ 324,750 (€ 355,950).