Pablo Picasso's work top sale at record-breaking British auction

LONDON: A celebrated masterpiece by Pablo Picasso sold on Wednesday at Christie's auction house in London for 34.8 million pounds, in an auction that set a record for the amount of money made at a British art sale.

The "Portrait of Angel Fernandez de Soto" -- also known as "The Absinthe Drinker" -- is a 1903 work from the Spanish painter's Blue Period, and was sold for the equivalent of 51.6 million dollars or 41.9 million euros.

Its expected sale price was between 30 and 40 million pounds.

Wednesday's sale -- which also included works by Gustav Klimt, Vincent van Gogh and Henri Matisse -- fetched a total of 152.6 million pounds, the highest amount ever at a British art auction.

It broke the previous record of 147 million pounds set at a Sotheby's sale in London in February.

But there was also a downbeat note to the evening, when one of Claude Monet's celebrated water lily paintings failed to sell.

The 1906 work, "Nympheas", was a star lot at the impressionist and modern art evening sale and had been expected to fetch between 30 and 40 million pounds. But it failed to find a buyer, said a spokeswoman for Christie's.

Despite this disappointment, the huge amount paid out at the sale appeared to indicate a continued strengthening of the art market, following a slowdown during the economic crisis.

"Global bidders competed at this evening's auction and demonstrated that the art market continues to attract significant levels of spending," said Giovanni Bertazzoni, head of impressionist and modern art at Christie's in London.

The "Portrait of Angel Fernandez de Soto" -- which was sold to an anonymous telephone bidder -- depicts one of Picasso's artist companions, leaning on a table with a glass of absinthe and smoke curling from his pipe.

The painting was sold by British composer Andrew Lloyd Webber's foundation, a charity which focuses on the promotion of arts, culture and heritage in Britain. It acquired the work for 29.2 million dollars in New York in 1995.

Other Picasso works were also sold at the auction. "Le baiser" (The Kiss) fetched 12.1 million pounds, and "La liseuse" was sold for 5.6 million pounds.

The second most expensive work at the auction was a portrait of a woman by Austrian artist Gustav Klimt, "Frauenbildnis (Portrait of Ria Munk III)", which sold for 18.8 million pounds.

Another highlight was "Parc de l'hopital Saint-Paul," a Vincent van Gogh painting which he created during his voluntary confinement at an asylum. It sold for nine million pounds.