The World's Most Expensive Painting - Pablo Picasso's "Green Leaves, Nude and Bust" At Tate Modern

Written by Rupert Standish Thursday, 15 March 2012 21:40

London (BBC).- The world's most expensive painting ever sold at auction is going on public show in the UK for the first time. "Nude, Green Leaves and Bust" was painted by Pablo Picasso in 1932 and based on his muse, Marie-Therese Walter. The painting became the most expensive in the world when it was auctioned in New York by Christies in 2010, selling for for $106.5m (£65.5m). As of Monday 7 March 2011, it can be seen on display at the Tate Modern in London. Tate director Nicholas Serota: "This is an outstanding painting by Picasso. I am delighted that through the generosity of the lender we are able to bring it to the British public for the first time."

Mr Serota said: "Nude, Green Leaves and Bust" is one of the sequence of paintings of Picasso's muse, Marie-Therese Walter, made by the artist at Boisgeloup, Normandy, in the early months of 1932. They are widely regarded as amongst his greatest achievements of the inter-war period."

The painting has been borrowed from the unnamed private collector who bought it. It is not known what security precautions have been taken at the gallery to protect it from thieves and vandals. A complete Picasso exhibition will open at Tate Britain next year.

Picasso first met Ms Walter, a model in 1927 and she became his mistress. He began to paint her four years later. She died in 1977, four years after Picasso.

The Tate's permanent collection contains 45 drawings, paintings and sculptures by Picasso, including a number that featured in the very sucessful "Picasso: Peace and Freedom" exhibition at the Tate Liverpool between May and August 2010.




Created in 2000 from a disused power station, the Tate Modern displays the national collection of international modern art. The Bankside power station (a striking and distinguished building in its own right), was redesigned by the Swiss firm of Herzog and De Meuron. The turbine hall became a dramatic entrance area, with ramped access, as well as a display space for very large sculptural projects. The boiler house became many of the galleries. These galleries are on three levels running the full length of the building, disposed in separate but linked blocks, on either side of the central escalators. Above the original roofline of the power station Herzog and De Meuron added a two-storey glass penthouse, known as "the lightbeam". In total, the Tate Modern has 34,500 square meters of floorspace, including over 9,800 m2 of display and exhibition space, plus 3,300 m2 for specific installations in the turbine hall. The Tate Modern opened in 2000 and became an instant hit with visitors from worldwide. Designed to handle up to 2 million visitors a year, it rapidly became one of the most-visited modern art gallery in the world, with around 5 million visitors every year. Further expansion of the gallery has been a priority for some time, and a new extension is scheduled to open in 2012. Also designed by Herzog & de Meuron, the new extension will take the form of a ziggurat or pyramid with a sloping brick facade to match the original building. When completed, this will include galleries dedicated to photography, video, exhibitions and the community. Visit the museum’s website at: … http://www.tate.org.uk/modern/

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