At Christie’s New York on 4 May 2010, a new world record was set for the most expensive work ever to be sold at auction.  Pablo Picasso’s Nude, Green Leaves and Bust (1932), from the Collection of Mrs. Sidney F. Brody was bought by an anonymous phone bidder for $106,482,500.

Pablo Picasso, Nude, Green Leaves and Bust, 1932

The large work pictures a nude figure, identified as Picasso’s muse and Mistress Marie-Thérèse Walter with an image of Picasso himself in the backdrop.  Frances and Sidney Brody purchased Nude, Green Leaves and Bust for $17,000 in 1950.  On Tuesday evening, as bidding began at $58 million, eight bidders fought for the work until two bidders battled it out when it reached $88 million –a competition which took the final price to the world record of $106,482,500.

The important Brody collection as a whole brought in a record $224,177,500 as the highest total for a single-owner sale at Christie’s New York.  All 27 lots from the Brody Collection were sold.  Part of the sale’s earnings will be given to benefit the Huntington Library, Art Collections and Botanical Gardens where Mrs. Brody volunteered in San Marino, California.  Other highlights from the Brody’s important collection included Matisse, Braque, Renoir, and Giacometti’s Grande tête mince, which went for $53,282,500.

Alberto Giacometti, Grand Tête Mince, 1955

Frances Brody and her husband Sidney had a passion for collecting and advocating the arts, in particular Mrs. Brody who served on the UCLA Arts Council for years, after helping to found it in the 1950s.  This extraordinary sale represents their strong involvement in the art world and zeal for contemporary art.

The entire series of Impressionist and Modern Art Sales brought in $360 million, outdoing the estimate for these May sales of $283 million.  The tremendous results speak volumes for the art market, and not too bad for Christie’s, either.