Picasso Portrait Fetches $52 Million; Monet Leads Auction Flops

The headline-grabbing sale of composer Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Pablo Picasso portrait for 34.8 million pounds ($52 million) helped make a London art auction the biggest ever held in the U.K.

Still, 25 percent of the 62 lots of Impressionist and modern art failed to sell -- including a Claude Monet painting, which like the Picasso was forecast to fetch as much as 40 million pounds at hammer prices. Both works had tipped to set records for the artists or even for any work of art at auction. Lloyd Webber’s lot was one of 35 that sold within or below forecast as the top end of the art market had a reality check, said dealers.