Picasso's "Femme à la montre" sells for more than $139 million at auction, making it his second most expensive piece

A Picasso painting sold at auction for more than $139 million on Wednesday – the second-highest price for a Picasso work. "Femme à la montre," a 1932 oil painting by the famed Spanish artist, was estimated to sell for $120 million but exceeded that price when this and other works from the art collection of Emily Fisher Landau went up for auction at Sotheby's in New York. 

In 2015, version O of Picasso's "Les femmes d'Alger" – which he painted 15 versions of – sold at a Christie's auction for more than $179 million.

"Femme à la montre" was the star of Fisher Landau's collection. The painting depicts Marie-Thérèse Walter, who was known as Picasso's "golden muse." Walter and Picasso had a secret relationship – because they met when she was 17 and he was married to Olga Khokhlova at the time. 

Walter appeared in several of his works but this was his first public display of his love for her. Walter is depicted wearing Picasso's watch in this painting, seen as an honor, since his watches were beloved and he only painted them in three of his major works, according to Sotheby's. 

Fisher Landau acquired "Femme à la montre" in 1968 and it was one of the first major art pieces she acquired. It once hung above her mantle in New York and was later displayed at her own museum, the Fisher Landau Center for Art in Long Island City, New York.

This painting and about 120 other pieces, including works by Henri Matisse and Mark Rothko, that were auctioned by Sotheby's this week were expected to rake in a total of $400 million. 

The most expensive painting ever sold was Leonardo Da Vinci's "Salvator Mundi," which sold at a Christie's auction for more than $450 million in 2017. It is more than 500 years old and depicts Christ holding a crystal orb.

The second most expensive piece of art ever sold was Willem de Kooning's "Interchange," which was sold for $300 million in a private sale between the David Geffen Foundation and Kenneth C. Griffin in 2015. The Dutch American artist first sold the abstract piece for just $4,000 in 1955.

Caitlin O'Kane

Caitlin O'Kane is a digital content producer covering trending stories for CBS News and its good news brand, The Uplift.