Article: Is this Picasso set to become the world's most expensive painting?

IT IS likely to become the most expensive work of art in history. Art experts believe that the "hauntingly beautiful" painting by Picasso of a boy with a pipe will be sold for as much as $100 million ( pounds 56 million) when it is auctioned this week.

The portrait, Garcon a la Pipe, which was painted by Pablo Picasso in 1905, will be auctioned at Sotheby's in New York on Wednesday. The auction house has publicly given a pre-sale estimate of $70 million ( pounds 40 million) to the work, which was bought for $30,000 in 1950 and is now being sold to raise money for charity.

That would make it the fifth most expensive work of art ever. In private, however, officials are confident that the price ...

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