Picasso’s sea creature picture of lover Marie-Thérèse Walter sells for $67.5 million at a New York auction

When Walter met Picasso, who was 45 at the time, she was 17 years old. She was the inspiration for some of his most well-known paintings.
In an auction on Tuesday, a painting by Pablo Picasso depicting his former mistress Marie-Thérèse Walter as a sea creature with tentacles sold for just over $67.5 million.

Picasso’s sea creature picture of lover Marie-Thérèse Walter

According to Reuters, “Femme nue couchée,” or “Naked lady reclining,” went up for auction in a Sotheby’s sale in New York, and sold for $7.5 million more than the expected $60 million.

Walter is shown as a tentacled sea creature reclining with her head tilted back in the painting. Walter’s passion of swimming, according to Sotheby’s, inspired the portrait’s nautical motif.