Picasso fetches world record price

A 1932 Pablo Picasso painting of his mistress has sold at a New York City auction for a world record US$106.5 million.

"Nude, Green Leaves and Bust" sold at Christie's today to an unidentified telephone bidder. Its pre-sale estimate was up to $90 million.

The striking work of Marie-Therese Walter had been exhibited in the United States only once, in 1961 in Los Angeles to commemorate the 80th anniversary of Picasso's birth.

The painting belonged to the late California art patron Frances Lasker Brody, who bought it in the 1950s. Part of the sale proceeds will benefit the Huntington Library, Art Collections and Botanical Gardens in San Marino, California, where she was on the board.

The previous record for a work of art at auction was US$104.3 million for a sculpture by Alberto Giacometti in February.

- AP