Pablo Picasso Painting Is the Most Expensive Art Sold at Auction, Brings in $179 Million

A Pablo Picasso masterpiece was sold for more than $179 million in New York on Monday, setting a new world record for the most expensive art sold at auction in what was dubbed the "sale of the century."

Picasso's 1955 painting of a harem of colorfully dressed women, "Women of Algiers (Version O)," sold for $179.4 million at at Christie's New York salesroom on Monday. The price surpasses the $142.4 million paid two years ago for Francis Bacon's triptych, "Three Studies of Lucian Freud," as well as earlier record of $120 million for Edvard Munch's tortured "Scream."

The sale at Christie's also featured Alberto Giacometti's life-size sculpture Pointing Man, which sold for $141 million, earning it the title of most expensive sculpture ever sold at auction.

The buyers of neither of the works was immediately made public.

According to experts, the impressively high prices are driven by artworks' investment value and by wealthy new and established collectors seeking out the very best works.

"I don't really see an end to it, unless interest rates drop sharply, which I don't see happening in the near future," Manhattan dealer Richard Feigen said, according to The Guardian.

Pablo Picasso's "Women of Algiers" was inspired by Picasso's fascination with 19th-century French artist Eugene Delacroix. It's part of a 15-work series Picasso created in 1954-55 designated with the letters A through O.