A Picasso picture of a cabaret artist, which carries a second painting on the reverse, has sold for USD 67.45 million in New York, scoring a windfall for American billionaire Bill Koch.
It was the top lot of the season so far, proving a savvy investment for the Republican party donor who paid just USD 3 million for the canvas in 1984 and later discovered he had got two for the price of one.
Sotheby's had valued the canvas, "La Gommeuse," at USD 60 million. It was painted in Paris in 1901 when the artist was just 19 years old and grieving the suicide of a close friend.
In 2000, during restoration work, Koch discovered that there was another painting on the reverse - a mocking depiction of Picasso's art dealer - that had been hidden under the lining for a century.
It was a lucrative night for Koch. Just minutes earlier, at the same auction, Sotheby's sold his Monet "Water Lilies" study in oil for USD 33.85 million, clearing its minimum pre-sale estimate of USD 30 to 50 million.
Another highlight was a Vincent van Gogh, which sold for USD 54 million. "Paysage sous un ciel mouvemente" (moving sky over a landscape) was painted a year before the artist's death and shows storm clouds over fields outside Arles, France.
A small van Gogh of a fat baby in a bonnet, "Le Bebe Marcelle Roulin" smashed its pre-sale estimate by selling for USD 7.64 million following a prolonged and frenetic bidding war.
Yesterday's auction saw Sotheby's kick back with a strong performance after starting the fall season with a rather sluggish evening sale on Wednesday of USD 377 million worth of art collected by self-made billionaire Alfred Taubman, a former Sotheby's chairman.
Taubman did a brief spell in jail in 2002 for price fixing.
Christie's and Sotheby's go head to head in a week of auction sales six months after the spring season smashed a string of records and netted more than USD 2.6 billion for the rival auction houses.
The most expensive lots this season are a sumptuous nude by Modigliani valued at USD 100 million, and a pop art masterpiece from Roy Lichtenstein estimated at USD 80 million.
Both go under the hammer at Christie's.
