Picasso Art To Fetch $50 Million

A Pablo Picasso portrait of his mistress Dora Maar that has been in private hands for more than 40 years will be auctioned in New York in May and could raise more than $50 million, Sotheby's said on Thursday. "The portraits of Dora Maar are among the most popular and most important works that he did," Charles Moffett, vice chairman of Sotheby's, told Reuters. "For the better part of a decade she was his muse, his model, his intellectual companion, his intellectual sparring partner." The painting, "Dora Maar au chat," shows Maar seated in a chair with a small black cat perched behind her right shoulder. Moffett said the painting stands out for its vivid colors and its clawlike depiction of Maar's hands. For the full story - click the title Irish Art