Picasso painting unseen for 80 years up for auction

An oil painting by Pablo Picasso, unseen by the public for more than 80 years, will go under the hammer in Paris next month.

The painting, “Bust of a Woman in a Flowery Hat,” depicts French photographer and painter Dora Maar — one of Picasso’s lovers and most famous muses — wearing a bright, flowery hat made up of pastel green, blue, and yellow strokes. Advertisement

Despite the vivid color palette, Maar’s expression is one of concern.

Created in July 1943, during the Nazi occupation of Paris, the work is a “canvas of major historical and artistic importance, all the more as it remained unseen by the public for over eighty years,” according to art expert Agnès Sevestre-Barbé.

“It was in May 1943 that Picasso met the young painter Françoise Gilot, who, after the war, would bring a clea