Picasso’s old mansion for sale
– Picasso’s mansion on the French Riviera, where his last wife tragically shot herself, is expected to be sold for more than €20 million (R380 million) at an auction today.
The artist spent his twilight years on the estate at Mougins in the hills near Cannes, dying there in April 1973, 12 years after moving there with his muse and second wife Jacqueline Roque.
Roque, who Picasso painted more than 400 times, killed herself at the house overlooking the Mediterranean in 1986.
Her daughter Catherine Hutin-Blay sold the estate on to a Dutch owner, who renamed it the Cavern of the Minotaur after the painter’s obsession with the mythical beast.
Before Picasso, the house had belonged to the Anglo-Irish Guinness brewing family. Wartime British prime minister Winston Churchill, a keen amateur artist, was a frequent visitor, painting in the grounds.
The Dutch owner got into financial difficulty after carrying out extensive work on the property, which dates from the 18th century, and its three hectares of grounds.
Maxime Van Rolleghem, a lawyer for the former owner’s creditors, Achmea Bank, said a Sri Lankan financier Rayo Withanage had put an offer of €20.1 million on the house in June, but “he hadn’t yet got together the funds” to complete the transaction.
“From Picasso’s period the only original room that is left is his studio, which still has traces of the paint left by the artist,” said estate agent Michael Zingraf. – AFP