Thursday, May 4, 2006Pablo Picasso‘s famous portrait of his lover has been auctioned for $95.2 million at Sotheby’s in New York on Wednesday. 1941 masterpiece “Dora Maar with cat/ Dora Maar au chat” was sold to an anonymous buyer. This is the second highest amount ever paid in an auction. The highest amount paid so far for a painting is $104 million (“Boy with a pipe/Garcon a la pipe” by Picasso, 1905), which was auctioned in 2004. Vincent Van Gogh‘s “Portrait with Dr. Gachet” was sold at $82.5 million.

Dora Maar, herself an artist, believed to have helped Picasso in the execution of the famous masterpiece “Guernica,” which depicted the horror of Spanish civil war. They had a relationship that lasted for a decade.

Picasso was born in Malaga, Spain on 25 October 1881. He died at the age of 92 in 1973.