Two masterworks of art anchoring a major auction at Sotheby's - a Picasso painting and a Giacometti sculpture - have gone unsold, as the northern hemisphere spring auction season got off to a muted start in New York.
Pablo Picasso's 1938 portrait of his daughter Maya - The Daughter Of The Artist at Two-And-A-Half Years With A Boat - had been expected to fetch between $US16 and $US24 million, but failed to reach the minimum bid of $US12.5 million ($17 million).
Alberto Giacometti sculpture The Cat - finished in 1951 and considered one of the Swiss-born sculptor's finest works - failed to clear the threshold of slightly more than $US14 million sought by the seller.
Like Picasso's painting, The Cat had been expected to fetch between $US16 and $US24 million.
The global financial crisis has put a dampener on the high-flying art auction world, with fewer works being put up for sale compared to a year ago and with prices expected to be lower across the board.
Another Picasso work, the 1971 painting A Woman With A Hat, goes on sale today at rival auction house Christie's.
The painting, which comes from artist Julian Schnabel's collection, is estimated to be worth between $US6 and $US8 million.
- AFP