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After more than 80 years in a private collection, a painting by Pablo Picasso will finally see the light of day. Next month, Lucien Paris will auction off Buste de femme au chapeau à fleurs (Dora Maar), originally painted by the renowned artist in 1943 and purchased by a collector only a few months later in 1944. Lucien Paris estimates that the work is worth €8 million (about $9.45 million)—though it’s likely to be snagged at an even higher price.
Buste de femme is one of many portraits that Picasso created of Dora Maar, a French-Croatian photographer, painter, and his lover of nine years. Imbued with deep blues, vibrant reds, and eccentric patterns, this particular painting was completed toward the very end of Picasso and Maar’s relationship, which has historically been characterized as turbulent at best, and abusive at worst. That intensity is perhaps best reflected in Picasso’s “masochistic” representations of Maar, seeing her as a tortured, weeping, or otherwise grotesque figure in such pieces as The Weeping Woman.
Painted during the Nazi occupation of France, Buste de femme is no exception to this morose subject matter, despite its bright and vivid color palette. Here, Maar’s eyes seem vacant if not anguished, while her mouth is pressed together so tightly it appears as though she’s straining against tears. Her distress should come as no surprise, given the artwork’s context: Maar had just learned that Picasso, then 61, was leaving her for Françoise Gilot, a 21-year-old artist.
“It seems like she is crying,” art historian Arthur Brand recently told CNN Style. Brand speculated that, due to the Nazi occupation, “Picasso probably was worried that he would never be able to sell or exhibit again, so maybe his own sadness is also reflected in this painting.”
When Picasso abandoned Maar at last, she suffered a breakdown. Even before then, Maar was well aware of how her relationship with Picasso was limiting her own art, which principally revolved around surrealist photography and painting.
“I’m still too famous as Picasso’s mistress to be accepted as a painter,” she once remarked, according to her friend and American art writer James Lord. He also claimed that she considered Picasso’s portraits of her to be “lies.”
It’s clear that Buste de femme is a significant addition to Picasso’s oeuvre, especially because it’s been buried from the public for decades. In fact, its existence was at first only known from a black-and-white photograph featured in the Cahiers d’art art journal, snapped shortly before it was sold. Brassaï is also thought to have photographed the painting between late April and early May 1944.
In the auction catalog, art historian Agnes Sevestre-Barbe describes the painting as a “canvas of major historical and artistic importance,” one that “sheds fresh light on how Picasso, in the summer of 1943, interwove despair and hope.”
She adds: “To our knowledge, it has never been exhibited nor appeared at auction. The few specialists aware of its existence had to content themselves with the black-and-white reproduction, and with the photographs taken by Brassaï.”
Auctioneer Christophe Lucien echoed Sevestre-Barbe’s sentiment, calling the painting not only a “milestone in the history of art, but also in the private life of Picasso.”
“It is a refreshing portrait of Dora Maar; exceptional and full of emotion,” he concluded. “Discovering it is a big moment in our lives as experts.”
Buste de femme will be sold at auction on October 24, 2025, and will also be on-view during the three days leading up to the event.
After more than 80 years in a private collection, a 1943 portrait of Picasso’s then-lover, Dora Maar, will head to auction next month.
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Buste de femme joins Picasso’s several other portraits of Maar, many of which portrayed her as a tortured and weepy figure.
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The painting is estimated to snag at least $9.45 million at auction. It will be sold on October 24, 2025, by Lucien Paris.
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Sources: Picasso painting not seen for 80 years unveiled by Paris auction house; Picasso painting not seen in 80 years heads to auction in France; Picasso painting unseen for 80 years up for auction
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