Picasso portrait of young mistress sells for £16m

A Picasso masterpiece not seen by the public for 60 years became the most expensive painting sold in London this year when it fetched nearly £16m at auction yesterday.

Nu au Collier (Nude with Necklace), which had been expected to fetch up to £9m, was completed at the height of Picasso's relationship with his young mistress, Marie-Therese Walters. Christie's sold the painting to an unnamed collector who was present at the Impressionist and Modern Art evening sale.

The previous highest price paid for a painting this year was the £13.4m fetched by Monet's Nympheas at Sotheby's on Monday night.

A Christie's spokesman said of the Nu au Collier auction: "It was an exceptional sale and we are absolutely delighted by the result."

Nu au Collier dates from 1932, five years after Picasso met Ms Walters, then 17. The Spanish artist is said to have seduced Ms Walters after striding up to her in a Paris street and declaring: "I am Pablo Picasso – you and I are going to do great things together."

Conor Jordan, a director of Christie's Impressionist and Modern Art department, said: "This picture illustrates the flowering of the relationship.

"It is a beautiful, lyrical evocation of Marie-Therese and what she meant to him. It is Picasso revelling in female beauty," he said.

The record for a Picasso is the £38.4m raised by Femme aux Bras Croises at auction in New York in November 2000. That sum was the fifth-highest price paid for a work of art.

Picasso's masterpiece was one of eight on sale last night, five of which sold for a total of £18.4m. The other three did not meet their reserve price. A total of 43 works were auctioned, raisingalmost £40m.