Pablo Picasso, auction of masterpieces for the 140th birthday of the iconic artist

The Picasso auction, which will take place live from the Bellagio (Las Vegas) on Saturday, October 23, marks the largest and most significant art auction to ever take place in Las Vegas, and comes as MGM Resorts.

The unique collaboration between Sotheby's and MGM marks the first time Sotheby's has hosted an evening sale in North America outside of its New York auction site, and will feature a recreated version of the auction house's historic salesroom in Las Vegas. Advance sales exhibitions of the entire selection of works to be offered for auction will be held at the Sotheby's galleries in New York (7 - 13 September) and at the Bellagio Gallery of Fine Art (21 - 23 October) in Las Vegas, with touring exhibitions of some of the highlights scheduled in Taipei (September 17 – 18) and Hong Kong (October 7 – 11). All exhibits are free and open to the public.

Accompanying the auction is a four-day exhibition of specially curated luxury properties from Sotheby's, which will be on view at MGM's ARIA resort from October 21-24. The show will feature a selection of the world's finest luxury items, including cars, jewelry and watches, handbags, trainers and more. The exhibit properties will be auctioned by Sotheby's New York in late October, as well as being available for bidding online at Sothebys.com and via the Sotheby's app. Further details on the luxury showcase at ARIA and the Sotheby's auction will be released in the coming weeks.

Featuring 11 works showcasing the range and breadth of Pablo Picasso's celebrated career, the auction includes a highly curated selection of paintings, works on paper and ceramics spanning more than 50 years of artistic production from 1917 to 1969. The auction features Femme au béret rouge-orange (estimate $20/30 million), one of the portraits of Marie-Thérèse Walter, the artist's famed muse and lover who inspired many of his most revered and iconic portraits of the 30s. Executed in 1938, the present painting is one of the artist's last works capturing Marie-Thérèse and marks a pivotal moment after Picasso met the photographer Dora Maar, whose face slowly began to eclipse that of Marie-Thérèse in the work her. Picasso's deeply autobiographical portraits from this period reveal characteristics of both women and reinforce how extremely rare Marie-Thérèse's paintings from this year are. Adorned in his signature beret, the tender portrait of Picasso uses a palette of yellow and green to accentuate Marie-Thérèse's rounded features, which are characteristic of his Picasso portraits, and further underscores just how much the artist wanted this highly personal painting , which he has kept in his private collection for decades.

The sale is further highlighted by two refined large-scale portraits emblematic of the artist's late works: Homme et enfant (estimate $20/30 million) and Buste d'homme (estimate $10/15 million). Painted during one of the most inspired and productive periods in the artist's life, from 5 January 1969 to 2 February 1970, both works were included in the monumental 1970 exhibition at the Palais des Papes in Avignon, arguably the most important exhibition of his late career. Each painting shows Picasso's meditation on his artistic legacy, from both a personal and art historical perspective, and showcases the artist continuing to perfect his mastery of portraiture in his later years of work.

Among the greatest paintings ever executed by Picasso, Homme et enfant contains the artist's concern for his life and his legacy during this late period in his career. The two figures in the painting, a man and a child, are symbols of Picasso's artistic legacy both as a younger man and as a working artist towards the end of his career, as well as his legacy as a father. Related to his series Mousquetaires, Buste d'homme reflects on the artistic and thematic influence of old masters such as Velazquez and Rembrandt, in which Picasso aligns himself with the monumental painters of history.

Also included in the October sale Nature morte au panier defruits et aux fleurs (estimate $10/15 million), an exceptional museum-quality still life painted by Picasso during the Nazi occupation of Paris in 1942. While Picasso was prohibited from exhibiting his work during this period, until the historic 1944 Salon d'Automne, also known as the Salon de la Libération, remained as prolific as ever. Without the opportunity to present his work publicly, Picasso's experience during the occupation led him to look inward and ponder life and death during war, and his output displayed bold stylistic choices of muted tones and Cubist-inspired graphic lines that reflected his introspection. This period is considered one of the largest and most focused of Picasso's famous still lifes, rivaled only by his earlier Cubist period.

About the MGM Resorts Fine Art Collection

When it opened in 1998, Bellagio was the first resort committed to bringing the arts to Las Vegas. With the introduction of the Bellagio Gallery of Fine Art and restaurants such as Picasso, featuring the master's iconic paintings and captivating ceramic pieces, MGM Resorts has introduced art for the first time into the range of amenities guests can experience at Las Vegas. Since then, the firm has steadily expanded its art portfolio. Opened in 2009, the ARIA Fine Art Collection was the first major permanent collection of public art in Las Vegas and one of the largest and most ambitious corporate art collections in the world. In 2016, MGM Resorts together with ARIA Resort & Casino became the title sponsor of Ugo Rondinone's Seven Magic Mountains, one of the largest land-based art installations in over 40 years. That same year, MGM National Harbor debuted just south of Washington DC with the largest public art collection outside of museums in the region. Drawing inspiration from the city's legacy of rich arts and culture, MGM Springfield, which opened in 2018, features a curated collection of local and national artists from large-scale sculptures to intriguing paintings. The artwork can also be found at several of the company's other properties, including the MGM Grand, Delano Las Vegas, and The Mirage.