The recession has dampened the market for arts and antiques, but it’s still considered a wise investment when paper assets are losing their value. And once the market is on the rebound, you can even choose to sell them for big bucks. Coming at Sotheby’s New York sale is a portrait by Pablo Picasso of his daughter Maya when she was two-and-a-half years old. The portrait is the highlight of the show and is expected to fetch $16-24 million. Picasso’s 1938 work “La fille de l’artiste a deux ans et demi avec un bateau” has never been auctioned before, and was in the artist’s personal collection for 35 years until his death in 1973, suggesting it was among the Spanish master’s favorites. Maya, daughter of Marie-Therese Walter, is depicted holding a toy boat, a favorite toy. Emmanuel Di-Donna, Sotheby’s vice chairman of impressionist and modern art, said Picasso painted the picture “only months after his harrowing Guernica,” his portrayal of the 1937 bombing of a Spanish town during the civil war. “This life-affirming portrait reflects the great joy that Maya brought into the artist’s life, even on the eve of the Second World War.”

Via: Reuters443921