A rare Picasso, painted when the artist was just 24, became the most expensive painting ever sold at auction when an anonymous buyer purchased it for $104.1 million last night at Sotheby's.

The price paid for "Boy With a Pipe (The Young Apprentice)," a 1905 work from Picasso's Rose Period, eclipsed the previous record for a painting, set in 1990 when van Gogh's "Portrait of Dr. Gachet" was sold at Christie's in New York for $82.5 million. The Picasso was one of 34 works auctioned last night from the famed Whitney collection in a sale that totaled $189.8 million, far above the high estimate of $157 million. Of the 34 lots, all but two found buyers. Proceeds from the sale go to the Greentree Foundation, established by the Whitney family to promote international cooperation.

The winning bidder was Warren P. Weitman Jr., chairman of Sotheby's in North America, who was standing in the salesroom either taking cues from someone in the audience or simply following a client's instructions. The auction house would say only that the buyer wished to remain anonymous.

Four serious bidders competed for the painting up to the $75 million point. Then bidding slowed until Larry Gagosian, the Manhattan dealer, who was talking on a cell phone, jumped in at $80 million.

Ever since Sotheby's announced the sale in January, many dealers had been saying that the Picasso could well become the most expensive painting in history (though, adjusted for inflation, the 1990 price of "Dr. Gachet" would be more than $116 million in 2003 dollars). Sotheby's had estimated the Picasso would bring at least $70 million.

(Final prices include Sotheby's commission: 20 percent of the first $100,000 and 12 percent of the rest. Estimates do not reflect commissions.)

Speculation about the buyer began the minute the gavel went down. Possible buyers, dealers said, included Lily Safra, the widow of the billionaire banker Edmond J. Safra; Stephen Cohen, the Manhattan hedge fund manager, who has been one of the most important buyers recently; Stephen A. Wynn, the casino owner; the J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles; the financier Henry R. Kravis; and Paul Allen, a co-founder of Microsoft.

More than 1,000 people packed Sotheby's York Avenue headquarters to watch what many in the art world had been predicting would be the sale of the decade: 34 paintings and drawings from one of the last great American collections still in private hands. It was formed by two generations: Payne and Helen Hay Whitney, heirs to a fortune made from oil, tobacco, street railways and real estate, and their son John Hay Whitney, the sportsman, financier, publisher and ambassador to Britain, and his wife, Betsey Cushing Roosevelt Whitney.

During their 46-year marriage, John Hay Whitney, who died in 1982, and his wife, a New York socialite and philanthropist who died in 1998, amassed one of the world's most important art collections, rivaled only by those of the Greek shipping magnate Stavros Niarchos and, in the United States, the Havemeyers, who were among the first collectors of French Impressionist art, and Walter H. Annenberg, another former ambassador to Britain. Like the Havemeyers and the Annenbergs, the Whitneys gave generously to museums. When Mrs. Whitney died, she left art worth more than $300 million to four museums: the Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Yale University Art Gallery in New Haven, and the National Gallery of Art and the National Portrait Gallery in Washington.

The Picasso depicts an adolescent boy known as "P'tit Louis," who hung around the artist's studio in Paris, holding a pipe in his left hand and wearing a garland of roses on his head. In the background are two large bouquets. Some art historians believe Picasso added the garland toward the end of the painting, transforming the boy from a moody teenager in blue overalls to a haunting, deity like figure. The Picasso wasn't the only important painting up for sale last night, but it was the only one to bring a staggering price.

The Whitneys also owned some of the country's greatest race horses, and that passion was reflected in the art they bought. Manet's "Races at the Bois de Boulogne" (1872), a scene of spectators watching a horse race at Longchamps, with the artist's friend Degas in the lower right-hand corner, went to an unidentified telephone buyer for $26.3 million. Whitney bought the painting at Knoedler, the Manhattan gallery, in 1936 for $70,000 and $7,000 sales tax. Five bidders competed for the painting, estimated at $20 million to $30 million.

Other paintings with an equestrian theme also did well. Five people wanted to buy "The Red Prince Mare," a 1921 equestrian scene by Sir Alfred J. Munnings. Sotheby's thought the image of a mare held by her groom would fetch $400,000 to $600,000. It brought a record for the artist when an unidentified telephone bidder paid $7.8 million.

Another telephone bidder bought Picasso's "Tomato Plant," one of nine canvases of potted tomato plants executed in 1944. It brought $6.8 million, far above its $4 million high estimate.

Several dealers tried to buy Braque's "Bottle and Glass," a still life from 1910-11. Angela Neville, a London dealer, ended up buying the oval painting for $1.9 million, above the high $1.6 million estimate.

One painting that ignited a bidding battle was "The Good and Evil Angels Struggling for Possession of a Child," a hand-colored monotype by William Blake. Four telephone bidders and three in the room bid earnestly, and it sold to a telephone buyer for $3.9 million, more than double its $1.5 million high estimate and a record for the artist.

While prices were strong throughout the evening, some dealers in the audience were surprised that there wasn't more Whitney fever. "There was no mass hysteria," said James Roundell, a London dealer. "The big price of the Picasso didn't affect the rest. Maybe people are wiser with their money."

But at the end of the evening, all that people were willing to talk about was "Boy With a Pipe."

John Richardson, the Picasso biographer, was watching the evening's results with particular interest. "It's very beautiful, very pleasing, very poetic and very lyrical," he said. "But it's not one of my top 20 favorite Picassos."

Asked what he thought of the price, Mr. Richardson answered, without missing a beat, "I don't think any painting in the world is worth $100 million."

Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2004/05/06/arts/design/06auction.html?hp=&pagewanted=print&position=