Pablo Picasso

Garçon à la Pipe (Boy with a Pipe) is a painting by Pablo Picasso, painted in 1905, during the 24-year-old artist's Rose Period. The oil on canvas painting depicts a Parisian boy holding a pipe in his left hand.

It sold for $104.1 million USD at an auction in Sotheby's in New York, after having been given a pre-sale estimate of $70 million by the auction house. Many art critics have stated that the painting's high sale price has much more to do with the artist's name than with the merit or historical importance of the painting.

I am just in love with the contrast between the man and his wings and even the background. The blue against that peachy background is striking. And the way the flower wings tease you as to where they are meant to be... on the man's back, in his imagination, or as part of the background. It may not be one of Picasso's most admired paintings, but still... $104.1 million!