Revealed: Picasso’s granddaughter owned a Van Gogh—which she sold at Sotheby’s – The Art Newspaper

One in all Pablo Picasso’s grandchildren, Marina, purchased a Van Gogh—and he or she bought it at Sotheby’s in New York on 13 Could. Lady in a Wooden (September-October 1882) went for $952,500.

The watercolour depicts a lady with a scarf strolling by a glade close to The Hague, the place Van Gogh lived for practically two years. On the reverse is an outline of a fishing boat on the seaside on the close by coastal city of Scheveningen. Additionally painted in watercolour, the sketchy Boat on the Seashore with Figures (September-October 1882) seems to be unfinished. This seascape will not be recorded within the 1996 Hulsker Van Gogh catalogue raisonné and we’re publishing it in color for the primary time.

Marina is the daughter of Picasso’s son Paulo, from the artist’s relationship with the Russian ballerina Olga Khokhlova, whom he had married in 1918 (they separated in 1935). On Picasso’s loss of life in 1973 Marina was aged 22.

She had a fraught formative years, struggling emotionally and financially. This was partly a results of Picasso’s abandonment of her grandmother and later household issues. Marina’s brother Pablito tragically died by suicide a number of weeks after Picasso’s loss of life.

Following a prolonged authorized dispute after his loss of life, Picasso’s huge property, together with 10,000 artworks, was divided among the many heirs, together with Marina. After residing in relative poverty, she immediately acquired untold wealth.

Marina purchased the Van Gogh in 1987, via a pal, the Swiss-based supplier Jan Krugier. The watercolour had come from a Tehran-based collector.

In Marina’s 2001 autobiography Picasso: My Grandfather, she wrote that she was usually requested what her newly acquired wealth meant: “Initially I indulged myself… Lastly, I used to be in a position to assist kids in misery midway all over the world… Now cash is a instrument that provides me freedom, and that’s all.”

Marina has used a lot of her inherited riches to help orphanages in Vietnam, the place she adopted three kids whom she introduced again to France. She has additionally supported charitable ventures nearer to her residence on the French Riviera.

In her autobiography, Marina added: “I don’t like speaking about cash. Maybe as a result of I’ve some. Or as a result of I used to not have any after we lived within the shadow of a genius.”

Marina’s perspective in direction of Picasso was advanced, however above all she resented the best way her grandmother had been handled. With the ladies in his life, “he submitted them to his animal sexuality, tamed them, bewitched them, ingested them, crushed them on his canvas”, she wrote. Marina nonetheless bears the psychological scars of what occurred practically a century in the past, and has mentioned the various years she later spent in remedy.

Marina by no means spoke out about her Van Gogh, and till simply earlier than the Could public sale it was not publicly identified that she owned the watercolour, which was presumably purchased as an early “indulgence”. For somebody who had been raised in relative poverty, immediately with the ability to purchase a Van Gogh will need to have appeared like a dream. 

One other Van Gogh got here up at public sale in Could.

Christie’s in New York bought a Van Gogh panorama oil portray, additionally achieved in The Hague. Within the Dunes (September 1883), went for $4m on 12 Could, the day earlier than Marina’s watercolour.

The vendor is US businessman Jeffrey P. Draime and his spouse, who purchased the image at public sale in 2014 for $1.8m. From 2015 to 2023 they lent it to the Butler Institute of American Artwork in Youngstown, Ohio. It is without doubt one of the final works which Van Gogh painted in The Hague, simply earlier than he left his companion Sien Hoornik and set off to color in Drenthe, within the north of the Netherlands.

REVISED: Initially printed on 2 Could 2025, this weblog submit was up to date with new data on 8 August 2025.

Martin Bailey is a number one Van Gogh specialist and particular correspondent for The Artwork Newspaper. He has curated exhibitions on the Barbican Artwork Gallery, Compton Verney/Nationwide Gallery of Scotland and Tate Britain.

Martin has written plenty of bestselling books on Van Gogh’s years in France: The Sunflowers Are Mine: The Story of Van Gogh’s Masterpiece (Frances Lincoln 2013, UK and US), Studio of the South: Van Gogh in Provence (Frances Lincoln 2016, UK and US), Starry Night time: Van Gogh on the Asylum (White Lion Publishing 2018, UK and US) and Van Gogh’s Finale: Auvers and the Artist’s Rise to Fame (Frances Lincoln 2021, UK and US). The Sunflowers are Mine (2024, UK and US) and Van Gogh’s Finale (2024, UK and US) are additionally now out there in a extra compact paperback format.

His different latest books embody Dwelling with Vincent van Gogh: The Properties & Landscapes that formed the Artist (White Lion Publishing 2019, UK and US), which offers an summary of the artist’s life. The Illustrated Provence Letters of Van Gogh has been reissued (Batsford 2021, UK and US). My Pal Van Gogh/Emile Bernard offers the primary English translation of Bernard’s writings on Van Gogh (David Zwirner Books 2023, UKand US).

To contact Martin Bailey, please e mail vangogh@theartnewspaper.com

Please word that he doesn’t undertake authentications.

Discover all of Martin’s adventures with Van Gogh right here