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Place your bids: Picasso pieces to be auctioned in Las Vegas

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TORONTO -

It's in with the new and out with the strange at the Bellagio hotel and casino in Las Vegas.

As part of a partnership between MGM Resorts and Sotheby's, the renowned auction house will be hosting an event Oct. 23 to sell a number of Pablo Picasso pieces from Bellagio's fine art collection. The sale makes way for the hotel to reshape its collection as it focuses on diversity and inclusion.

"We welcome millions of visitors from around the world annually throughout our resorts, giving us a tremendous platform for showcasing diverse perspectives within the art community," Ari Kastrati, MGM Resorts chief hospitality officer, said in a press release. "We are committed to creating an even more inclusive collection that maintains the breadth of our existing portfolio while giving a greater voice to artists from under-represented communities."

The auction coincides with Picasso's 140th birthday (Oct. 25) and will feature 11 works, including paintings, works on paper and ceramics that span more than 50 years of the artist's career, from 1917 to 1969. The star of the show will be Femme au béret rouge-orange, valued at US$20–30 million, one of Picasso's most famed portraits of Marie-Thérèse Walter, a French model and his lover who inspired many of his portraits in the 1930s. Others paintings up for sale will be Homme et enfant (US$20–30 million), Buste d'homme (US$10–15 million) and Nature morte au panier de fruits et aux fleurs.

The auction will be livestreamed from Sotheby's website. Pre-sale exhibitions of all works will take place at Sotheby's New York galleries (Sept. 7–13) and the Bellagio Gallery of Fine Art (Oct. 21–23) in Las Vegas. Travelling exhibitions of select pieces will be held in Taipei (Sept. 17–18) and Hong Kong (Oct. 7–11). These events will be free and open to the public.

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