Picasso heirs are looking to enter the cryptocurrency market in a big way, selling off photos of a never-circulated Picasso original as NFTs.
Pablo Picasso’s career was long and incredibly prolific. In the 75 years he spent making art, he produced an estimated 13,500 paintings and over 130,000 other works. That’s between 5-6 works a day, every single day of those 75 years. Now, some of these works were simple sketches or prints using previously finished work, but the drive is still incredible.
While he’s known for his paintings and drawings, Picasso also produced a fair number of sculptures in wood and ceramic. Many of his ceramic works have never been publicly displayed. They’re still the property of Picasso’s family – in this case his granddaughter and her son, Marina and Florian Picasso.
The Picasso heirs are intending to ride the NFT fad by selling 1,010 digital art pieces of a single ceramic bowl by their noteworthy ancestor. The bowl was made in 1958.
“It’s a work that represents a face, and it’s very expressive,” said Marina. “It’s joyful, happy. It represents life… It’s one of those objects that have been part of our life, our intimate lives — my life with my children.”
“We’re trying to build a bridge between the NFT world and the fine art world,” said Florian. He says that the NFT honors his great-grandfather. “Everything is evolving.”
The collection of digital art, along with an original album composed to accompany them and the original bowl, will all be auctioned off by Sotheby’s in March of this year. The Picasso heirs have not yet posted any full pictures of the bowl, only a teaser image featuring part of its exterior.
Pablo Picasso, who on occasion would pay his restaurant tabs by simply signing a napkin, probably would approve of NFTs and especially of his work being made into one.
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