Bad nudes for sheik who bought £115m Picasso
THE world’s most expensive work of art is poised to be housed in Britain – after nudity laws banned it from being seen in its new owner’s country.
Billionaire Hamad bin Jassim bin Jaber Al Thani, the former Qatari prime minister, is reported to have been the mystery buyer who paid £115million for Picasso’s Women of Algiers.
But despite the piece being a cubist work, sources say it will not go on display in the Arab country because of the nudity shown.
A source said: “The piece is a real investment and will only go up in value. However, because of strict rules governing the showing of female flesh in the Middle East, Women of Algiers will respectfully be hung elsewhere.”
Hamad bin Jassim, who heads a consortium who now Harrods, has three homes at London’s One Hyde Park.
As the chief executive of the Qatar Investment Authority, one of the world’s richest sovereign wealth funds, he also has huge stakes in the London Stock Exchange, the Shard, Volkswagen, Porsche and French football team Paris Saint- Germain. The Picasso was bought at auction in New York two weeks ago.
It had been expected to fetch £90million but the final price far exceeded all estimates at Christie’s.
The previous record for a painting sold at auction was £91.2million, for Francis Bacon’s Three Studies of Lucian Freud in 2013.