Painted in 1934, Le Lecture of Marie-Thérèse Walter has been announced as the “star lot” of a Sotheby’s auction in London next month.  The painting is a portrait by Pablo Picasso of his mistress and muse, Marie-Thérèse Walter. The portraits done by Picasso of Marie-Thérèse Walter from that same year have become famous in 2006, when Las Vegas Casino owner Steve Wynn put his elbow through the Dream oil painting, a portrait of the same Marie-Thérèse, creating a six inch tear just as he was about to sell the painting for $139 million to an anonymous buyer from Wall Street’s financial district. This would have made tycoon Steven Wynn the owner of the most expensive painting, ever.

Yet Wynn took the tear as a sign to not sell the painting, which was repaired and a new value was quoted for the painting — $85 million. Currently, Le Lecture of Marie-Thérèse Walter is estimated to go for $12-17 million. Helen Newman, Shotheby’s chair of impressionist and modern art, remarked that the painting “will excite a lot of interest” inside of its market.

Picasso’s mistress and muse was a secret affair depicted in the background of many of his past works. Marie-Thérèse Walter once stated:

“He simply took me by the arm and said: “I am Picasso! You and I are going to do great things together.”

Picasso met Walter in 1927 as she was stepping off a train. The girl was only seventeen at the time, and the artist was aged forty-five years. She was kept to the background of his works, until the 1934 La Lecture in which he depicts her intimately asleep with a book resting in her lap. Many scholars suggest this is a sexual symbol.

Six other Picasso works will be featured in the auction, which will also include works by master artists Renoir, Manet, Signac, and Monet. If you can’t make it London next month, be sure to get your own hand painted reproduction of The Dream at overstockArt.com.

According to research issued today by the popular online art gallery, overstockArt.com, Pablo Picasso’s Facebook® fan page was the most “liked” artist page in 2010. The list is a compilation of the top 10 most popular classic artist fan pages from 2010.

The top 10 artist fan pages on Facebook are:

1. Pablo Picasso – 4,754 fans
2. Vincent Van Gogh – 1,604 fans
3. Salvador Dali – 1,024 fans
4. Claude Monet – 940 fans
5. Pierre Auguste Renoir – 818 fans
6. Amedeo Modigliani – 714 fans
7. Edgar Degas – 704 fans
8. Paul Cezanne – 670 fans
9. Frida Kahlo – 655 fans
10. Wassily Kandinsky – 602 fans

“Facebook is a wonderful tool to use to engage with consumers, and is also an effective tool for keeping an eye on consumer trends and practices,” said David Sasson, founder and CEO of overstockArt.com. “By monitoring artist fan pages on Facebook and determining which ones are most popular we are provided a great indicator to what is hip and the most desirable art on the market, which helps us identify some of the best selling oil paintings we want to be sure to offer to our customers.”

John Cleese and the Monty Python gang in a really funny sketch simulating a bicycle race to fame between the great modern artists of the 20th century. As everyone pass through Pablo Picasso, probably the greatest 20th Century Artist, seems to be missing…

So, where is Picasso? Well it turns out that Picasso fell off the bike… But don’t worry he is not hurt, however the pig has a slight headache…

Pablo Picasso the great, the Michelangelo of the 20th century, the raging bull of modern art is exhibiting in Seattle.

The Seattle Art Museum, is host to a comprehensive exhibit of the modern master, artist Pablo Picasso. These are Picasso’s private stash of art pieces that he did not intend to reveal or sell. In today’s art market, the value of this artwork is nearly incalculable. And you need to take yourself, family or friends to see this show, because, unless you travel to Paris any time soon, you won’t get another chance.

Picasso’s enormous collection was “given,” in lieu of inheritance taxes, to the French government, who quickly outfitted a large, handsome but derelict hotel in Paris with the enormous collection. Right now, the museum is closed for two years of renovation. Vive l’opportunite!

With all the intrigue of a modern espionage novel, the curators of the Seattle Art Museum where able to somehow finagle Paris into loaning its collection to Seattle through Jan. 17.

Picasso burst on the Paris scene like a burst of talent, the art world had not seen before. To say that Picasso was a precocious talent at age 19 is an understatement. He could already paint and draw like a master.

And paint he did. The collection is an undeniable display of all the glamor, brilliance and command of the many media that Picasso thrust upon an evolving 20th century art world, a world already reeling from the impact of Impressionism and Post Impressionism and the first extraordinary artworks by modern painters from Claude Monet to Vincent Van Gogh.

Picasso fathered the next giant steps that led to the modern-day transformation from painting as representation, to, well … be my guest in defining this potpourri of expression.

Most of his paintings stun a vibrant imagination. Two Women Running on the Beach, The Village Dance, Cat Catching a Bird, sketches from Guernica, playful and provocative sculpture – all this work is displayed with deep passion, eroticism, and of course, all the creativity of an artist who might be defined as the raging bull of modern art.

At the beginning of the exhibit, one is confronted by a life-size photograph, a self-portrait of the artist as a young man, around age 24, standing resolutely with two deep-set black eyes blazing, almost challenging, muscles hard and taut, and with a pose that suggests an ego beyond Picasso’s cool and calculating confidence, of which he is generally accused of exhibiting by the boatload. He seems to suggest in a prescient sort way that, yes, he is going to become an artist of unsurpassed depth and imagination. His black and white drawings suggest a master on terms with Rembrandt or Picasso’s fellow Spaniard, Goya. Certainly, Picasso does not surpass either. But to be held on a par with such genius and talent speaks volumes, and Picasso did speak volumes. This quotation is a favorite: “God is really only another artist. He invented the giraffe, the elephant and the cat. He has no real style. He just goes on creating other things.”

His bigger than life nature, like his artwork, must have remained irresistible, just as this show is irresistible. In the sketches and studies of Guernica (the original remains in Madrid), rage and indignity confront us with all the power of a full-force Blitzkrieg.

In a strange way, it doesn’t matter if you like abstract painting or not. Picasso is the giant of expressionism and the creator of many emerging art styles. He was always ahead of the pack, bursting from the starting gate like Secretariat or Sea Biscuit. It can hardly be denied. You may dismiss his style, but must not reject the talent.

The break-in at the French capital’s Paris Museum of Modern Art has cost not only masterful works of five great artists; Picasso, Matisse, Georges Braque, Amedeo Modigliani and Fernand Léger  but it has compromised a piece of history in the hands of thieves.

But why these paintings and why these artists? There sure are a wide range of works to pick. But from among the many choices of paintings, the thieves have meticulously picked these works of art because these paintings cost more than jewels. The five cost an estimated amount of almost 1oo million Euros.

These paintings are very expensive not only because they were created by great men, but equally because of it’s historical impact in our society.

Henri Matisse’s La Pastorale (1905) is an important step in his discovery of an idyllic world of pure color and unshackled eros. The 1906 L’Olivier pres de l’Estaque (Olive tree near Estaque), painting by Georges Braque shows the influence of Matisse and the so-called “wild beasts”. While the most celebrated artist, Pablo Picasso’s pigeon aux petits-pois (spring 1912) brings the new era of “cubism”.

The truth is, art thievery seem to be a growing problem in many museums and art restoration houses. And these very same artists seem to be the target.  The number of artworks already recorded by The Art Loss Register account 659 Picasso masterpieces, Matisse has 121 while Georges Braque has 89.

As these works of arts continue to decline in number because of thievery, probably, there will come a time when all these will just written words.

It’s a big season for Picasso in the northeast. MoMA has a show, the Philadelphia Museum of Art is doing a Picasso & Friends show. Later this spring the Metropolitan Museum of Art will exhibit 300 of its Picassos…

The Guggenheim is also taking part in the Picassopalooza by showing two great still-lifes as part of a seventh-floor collection portraying the importance of Picasso on the Modern Art World.

For some reason Picasso is back as the most popular artist of the past century. Picasso’s popularity is on the rise a trend that just does not seem to fade.