Christie's Sells Picasso's "Portrait d'Angel Fernandez de Soto" for $51.2 Million

Andrew Lloyd Webber's charity sold a haunting Pablo Picasso portrait for GPB 34.7 million ($51.2 million) at Christie's in London on Wednesday, four years after heirs of the artwork's first owner claimed the painting had been sold under pressure by the Nazis.

The Andrew Lloyd Webber Foundation was given permission to offer up the 1903 work, "Portrait d'Angel Fernandez de Soto," after settling privately with the heirs of German banker Paul von Mendelssohn-Bartholdy a few months ago. Mr. Webber paid Christie's $29.1 million for the Blue-Period portrait of the artist's friend in 1995. This time around, the auction house priced it to sell for at least £30 million, or $44 million.

The painting lent its moody tone to Christie's £152.6 million ($226.5 million) evening sale of Impressionist and modern art. The overall total nearly quadrupled the house's $60.4 million sale last June, but the sale felt deflated because 16 of its offerings went unsold. These included a Claude Monet waterlily work, "Nympheas," that was expected to sell for over £30 million along with works by Kees van Dongen, Marc Chagall, Paul Klee and Balthus.

Collectors are still reconciling their expectations about how quickly art prices should rise amid the recovering art market, dealers say. Sellers want prices to return to their boom-era levels overnight, yet buyers remain wary of anything deemed overinflated. This disconnect also beset Sotheby's £112 million sale on Tuesday, in which a similar number of works went unsold.

Bidders still competed hard for the rarest works in Christie's sale, including Gustav Klimt's brightly colored 1917-18 "Portrait of Ria Munk III" that sold for £18.8 million, just over its high estimate. Picasso's Astroturf-green depiction of a loving couple, "The Kiss," also sold for £12.1 million, its high estimate.

Vincent van Gogh's 1889 view of a rustling cypress tree on his asylum grounds, "Park at the Saint-Paul Hospital," sold for £9 million. It was priced to sell for at least £8 million.

Surrealism—a recent favorite of newly wealthy Chinese collectors— enjoyed a strong showing at Christie's sale. Rene Magritte's row of trees formed with giant leaves, "The Mysterious Barricades," sold for £5 million, well over its £4 million high estimate. Salvador Dali's "The Knight of Death" fetched £1.6 million, within its £1.5 million to £2 million estimate.

Alberto Giacometti's pieces have also soared lately, but he isn't invincible to the vagaries of the marketplace. A foot-high bust of the sculptor's brother, "Diego (Head and Collar)," cast in 1980—14 years after the artist died—was priced to sell for at least £700,000 but found no takers.

Overall, 46 of the sale's 62 found buyers, helping the sale achieve 74% of its presale potential. Next week Sotheby's, Christie's and Phillips de Pury & Co. will hold sales of post-war and contemporary art in London.