Picasso's portrait of his teenage mistress sells for œ25m at auction

London, Feb 09 (ANI): A Picasso portrait of his teenage mistress has fetched 25,241,250 pounds at an auction.

The portrait, called La Lecture, was sold in a sale of impressionist and modern art at Sotheby's in London, reports the Telegraph.

The painting depicts Marie-Therese Walter, a 17-year-old blonde the artist met outside a Paris Metro station in 1927.

Their relationship remained secret for many years because of her age and the fact that the artist was married but she was the subject of several of his most celebrated pictures.

The work was painted in 1923 and shows her asleep in a chair. It was first exhibited at an exhibition in Paris in 1932 and has since passed through numerous high profile private collections before being sent for sale from America.

The oil painting was bought anonymously on the telephone for more than double the 12m pounds low estimate. The picture had been forecast to fetch up to 18m pounds and was contested by six bidders.(ANI)