Picasso topped 2015 highlights for Christie's president

It has been an eventful year in the global art space. And reflecting on pieces that were auctioned this year, Christie's global president JussiPylkkänen had a favourite - Pablo Picasso's Les femmesd'Alger (Version "O").

Created in 1955, the work is inspired by the style of the artist Eugene Delacroix. Picasso painted it after the death of his friend, the illustrious artist Henri Matisse.

According to Pylkkänen, when the painting came for auction in New York, earlier this year, the bidding, which had begun at $100,000,000, was bought at $179,365,000 with premium in 11 and a half minutes. The price created a record by surpassing the 100 million pound mark in the history of art auction.

"(It) demonstrated that we had entered a new era in the art market where collectors all over the world are prepared to compete for the very best in every category and are prepared to chase masterpieces to levels which we have never seen before," Pylkkänen said. He added that the sale of AmedeoModigliani's Nu couche de dos for over 100 million pounds at Christie's November sale was further proof of this.

Pylkkänen also mentioned the sale of the Victor and Sally Ganz collection in May.

"This was the year that I began to auctioneer evening sales (at Christie's) and little did I know that almost 20 years later, I would be in the rostrum bringing down the gavel on the first painting to break £100,000,000, and more to the point, a painting which had been a centrepiece in that Ganz sale at Christie's Park Avenue in 1997," he said.