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TOPIC: ART & MONEY
A rare Picasso canvas from the painter's Rose period could set an art-world sales record with a hammer price of as much as $100-million
The
painting has a storied background. Picasso produced many sketches of p'tit
Louis and apparently left the piece alone after painting the boy and the rose
background. Out one night with friends, he heard a recitation of Verlaine's
poem Crimen Amoris, which referred to a 16-year-old "evil angel" under
a wreath of flowers. Picasso allegedly excused himself and went immediately
back to his studio, where he painted the garland of flowers atop the boy's
head, transforming him from a working-class youth into a French Symbolist
figure laced with hints of myth and ambiguity. The boy holds a pipe to his
chest in his left hand, in an affectation of maturity. David Norman, a senior
vice-president of Sotheby's, suggests it is not a stretch to see the painting
as a metaphorical self-portrait. P'tit Louis is posed in Picasso's own blue
workman's overalls. "Picasso depicts an adolescent, and here he is, a
24-year-old artist in Paris, at the dawn of the 20th century, and he's going
to be the greatest artistic innovator," said Norman this week. "It's almost
like the Mona Lisa. There's an expression that you can't pin down to
have just one meaning." The other important paintings of the period include
Femme à l'eventail (1905), which was donated to the National Gallery of
Art in Washington by the Averill Harriman Foundation, and Jeune fille nue
avec panier de fleurs, which is part of David Rockfeller's collection and
is promised to the Museum of Modern Art in New York. Picasso's Garçon à la
pipe may sell next Wednesday for $100,000,000 (U.S.). Here are some other
things the prospective buyer could spend the money on instead:
1-One new opera house in downtown Toronto: 15,625 pounds (or 7,087 kilograms) of gold. 2-One six-album recording contract with Whitney Houston. 3-Four years of ball-playing by New York Yankees star third baseman Alex Rodriguez. 4-One Adam Sandler movie, including production and marketing costs. 5-1.5 million hepatitis-B vaccines for children in sub-Saharan Africa and Southeast Asia. 6-One day of Iraqi occupation by U.S. forces
End of the article.
Écriture en délire
Exposition du 12 février au 5 septembre 2004. Vernissage le mercredi 11 février 2004 à 18h30 Expositions temporaires 2004 à la Collection de l’Art Brut. Écriture en délire : 11.2.2004 - 5.9.2004. Bobines d’Art Brut : 20.3.2004 - 5.9.2004. Eugenio Santoro : 23.9.2004 - avril 2005
Exposition-Exhibition-Ausstellung
PRIX D'ENTREE
adultes : CHF 6.-
AVS/AI, étudiants, apprentis : CHF 4.-
groupes à partir de six personnes : CHF 4.-
enfants jusqu’à 16 ans, chômeurs : entrée libre
Écriture en délire
Exposition du 12 février au 5 septembre 2004. Vernissage le mercredi 11
février 2004 à 18h30.
Expositions temporaires 2004 à la Collection de l’Art Brut
Écriture en délire : 11.2.2004 - 5.9.2004. Bobines d’Art Brut : 20.3.2004 -
5.9.2004. Eugenio Santoro : 23.9.2004 - avril 2005