This week, the art world saw two record breaking sales in the same auction. At Christie’s sale entitled “Looking Forward to the Past," Pablo Picasso's “Les Femmes d’Alger (Version ‘O’)” sold for $179.4 million (with fees), shattering the previous record of $142.4 million for most expensive painting sold at auction.
Alberto Giacometti's "Pointing Man" sculpture followed suit, eventually fetching a sale price of $141.3 million — the most paid for a sculpture at auction.
Given its origins in a well-regarded moment in Picasso's career, not to mention its size, “Les Femmes d’Alger (Version ‘O’)” was considered by many art dealers to be an important sale, and a rare opportunity.
But don't count art critic Blake Gopnik among those who laud the painting as a work worth $179.4 million.
"One of the thing's about this picture is it's kind of a pastiche of earlier Picassos. It's like Picasso doing Picasso...And what do rich people want? They want Picasso-y looking pictures," Gopnik says.