It was the first painting Victor and Sally Ganz ever owned together, bought for $7,000 the year they were married and hung casually in their Manhattan apartment.
More than 50 years later, the Picasso has fetched $48.4 million at auction - a record-setting return for a piece the couple's daughter said they never viewed as an investment."Our parents collected art because they loved it, not for profit," Nancy Wright said Monday night after the blockbuster auction of her parents' visionary collection.
The 57 items auctioned brought a total of $206.5 million, which Christie's said was a record for a single-owner auction. Picassos accounted for more than $164 million of that total and made up eight of the 10 most expensive works sold Monday.
The list was topped by "Dream." Bidding on the erotic 1932 portrait of Picasso's mistress Marie-Therese Walter began at $20 million and quickly topped the estimated sale price of $30 million.
Christie's chairman Christopher Burge said the $48.4 million paid by an anonymous buyer was the second-highest auction price ever for a Picasso, trailing only the $51.6 million paid in 1989 for "Pierrette's Wedding." It was the fifth-highest sum paid for a painting at auction, he said.
The Ganzes, who owned paintings by Picasso, Jasper Johns, Robert Rauschenberg, Frank Stella and others, distinguished themselves during a half century of collecting for their virtually unerring eye for important work.
The collectors' four children decided to put the modern masterpieces up for sale after Sally Ganz died early this year. Her husband died in 1987.
The remainder of the Ganzes' art is being sold at smaller auctions throughout the week.