Pablo Picasso's Le Reve (The Dream) has become the most valuable Picasso, and the second most expensive artwork ever sold.
Steven Cohen, owner of SAC Capital Advisors, has purchased the 1932 work for $155m in a private sale, it has emerged.
 Marie-Therese was 'young, blond, sexy, round, accomodating,' according to Michael Finley of Acquavella Galleries, which organised a major exhibition of Picasso works in 2008 |
The price represents an 11.5% increase on the $139m that Cohen originally agreed to pay Wynn Resorts' chairman Stephen Wynn in 2006. The purchase was put on hold after Wynn, whose vision is deteriorating, put his elbow through the canvas. It has since been professionally repaired.
The $155m price tag eclipses that of the most expensive artwork ever sold at auction, a title that is currently held by Edvard Munch's The Scream, which made $119m in May 2012.
Le Reve shows Picasso's beloved muse and mistress Marie-Therese Walter, who was the subject of many of his finest portraits in the early 1930s. The market for this particular period of Picasso's career exploded when Nude Green Leaves and Bust - the previous art auction record holder - sold for $106.4m in 2010.
The price achieved by Le Reve is still some way off the highest ever paid for a work of art. In 2011, the Qatari royal family bought Cezanne's Card Players for $250m in a private sale that is unlikely to be surpassed for many years to come.
Steven Cohen is one of the world's most prolific art collectors, focusing primarily on impressionist and contemporary works. His collection includes works by Van Gogh, Manet, de Kooning, Cezanne, Warhol, Johns and Richter.
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