A rarely seen painting by Pablo Picasso has been sold for almost £13.5m at Christie’s auction house in London, exceeding expectations.
Jeune Fille Endormie (1935), a portrait of the Spanish artist’s lover, had been estimated to sell for £9m-12m. The painting was donated to the University of Sydney, provided the establishment used money from the sale for scientific research.
Giovanna Bertazzoni from Christie’s said the piece was an “absolute jewel”.
Graham Spicer is a writer, director and photographer in Milan, blogging (under the name ‘Gramilano’) about dance, opera, music and photography for people “who are a bit like me and like some of the things I like”. He was a regular columnist for Opera Now magazine and wrote for the BBC until transferring to Italy.
His scribblings have appeared in various publications from Woman’s Weekly to Gay Times, and he wrote the ‘Danza in Italia’ column for Dancing Times magazine.
