Thanks in large part to a mysterious bidder who knew no limits, Sotheby’s Impressionist and Modern sale tonight soared to $207,564,800, its highest tally since May 1990.

A single painting, Pablo Picassos Dora Maar au Chat, from 1941 accounted for $95.2 million of that total.

Forty-eight of the 55 lots sold, and the super-charged performance of the Picasso, now ranked as the second most expensive painting ever to sell at auction, helped eclipse the pre-sale high estimate of $190.8 million.

TOP FIVE PRICES

1. Lot #14—Pablo Picasso, Dora Maar au chat; Sold for: $95,216,000 (est.$50-70 million)

Generously scaled at 51" by 38", this 1941 portrait is an unabashed tour-de-force.

The seated figure is of the Czech-born photographer, whose dual role as muse and mistress to Picasso in the 1930s and ’40s comes alive in this electric portrayal.

Seated throne like in a high-backed wooden armchair, Maar grips the side rails with talon like fingernails, a queen endowed with superpowers. Her bird-like plumage in greens and reds create a gyrating energy.

The Cubist-like space she’s enclosed in barely contains the figure and the very cute but tiny black cat that poses on the seat back.

Much has been made about the placement of the cat and its symbolism of female sexuality and aggression. Picasso gave the cat to Maar after her beloved dog died—even though Maar hated cats.

You’d only know by the inscribed date of ’41 that France is occupied by the Nazi army, and Europe is under grave assault.

“I have not painted the war,” wrote Picasso, “because I am not the kind of painter who goes out like a photographer for something to depict.”

There was plenty of other subject matter for him to address since he was still married to Olga and involved with Marie-Therese who bore their daughter Maya.

Remarkably, the painting has scant exhibition history, apart from its last showing at the Art Institute of Chicago in 1968, an unusual circumstance for such a major picture.

It has been cloistered in the same Chicago area collection since 1963 when businessman Gerald Gidwitz acquired it from storied Chicago collector Leigh Block. Block recalled in an oral history that he paid $15,000 for the painting in 1947.

My, how times have changed.

Sotheby’s guaranteed the picture at a price in the neighborhood of $50 million, but that significant gamble paid off handsomely since the guarantor usually takes a significant percentage of the upside above the guaranteed amount.

The major comparable Picasso work to this example, Femme Assise dans un Jardin, from 1938, also featuring Maar, sold at Sotheby’s New York in November 1999 for $49.5 million.

But comparisons stop there. This picture entered another dimension after auctioneer Tobias Meyer opened the bidding at $38 million.

Five bidders chased the picture at $1 million increments to around $50 million, and then the field narrowed to a telephone bidder and a dark-haired gentleman hoisting his paddle on an aisle seat at the rear of the cavernous salesroom. Unlike many bidding duels involving millions of dollars, the bidder never hesitated and instantly raised his paddle like a flag.

His winning bid of $85 million (before the hefty buyers’ premium was added) drew loud applause.

An uneasy moment followed as the auctioneer, evidently unfamiliar with the bidder, asked, “May I have your paddle number?” After some hesitation, the bidder complied (it was #1340), and the action continued.

The result is second only to Picasso’s Garcon A La Pipe that fetched a record $104,168,000 at Sotheby’s New York in May 2004.

2. Lot #22—Henri Matisse, Nu Couche Vu de Dos; Sold for: $18,496,000 (est. $12-15 million)

Painted in Nice in 1927, the nude is part of a large and celebrated series of the odalisque, though this example is the only one depicting the model from the backside.

It is a familiar setting, rich in patterned fabrics and exotic still life objects such as a metal samovar and a decorative screen that encapsulate the sinuously limbed, dark-haired model. Her feet rest on a blue-and-white-striped pillow, and the visual bombardment of color and form quickly settles into a sensuously cohesive composition. It is surely, as one noted art historian remarked, one of his make-believe harem scenes.

Widely exhibited in a number of major gallery and museum exhibitions, dating from 1927, the painting is believed to have belonged to New York businessman and philanthropist Henry R. Kravis, whose wife, Marie-Josée Kravis is the board president of the Museum of Modern Art.

It was acquired through Acquavella Galleries in 1995 and has not been exposed to auction. It, too, carried a financial guarantee, part of the $253 million stake Sotheby’s is gambling on for this year’s Impressionist/Modern/Contemporary auctions.

At least four bidders chased the picture, including the Nahmad clan, but it was won by an anonymous telephone bidder. It eclipsed the previous mark set by Matisse’s La Robe Persane from 1940 that made $17,055,750 at Sotheby’s New York in May 2000.

3. Lot #29—Pablo Picassso, Arlequin au Baton; Sold for: $10,096,000 (est. $8-10 million)

Late works by Picasso, especially his jaunty cast of harlequins and musketeers, have zoomed skyward in value over the past few years. Painted in 1969 when the artist was in his late 80’s, the 75 ½" by 50 ½" canvas is super-charged and ultra-contemporary.

The helmeted figure wields a baton high over his head in one clasped hand and a prickly green branch in the other. It could be a peace offering from a valiant warrior; certainly, it’s a macho alter-ego to the artist’s own aging figure.

These swashbuckling figures are a far cry from the artist’s waifish harlequins painted during his Rose Period of 1904-05.

The outlandishly costumed figures also allude to the Spanish old master, Diego Velasquez, and the Dutchman Rembrandt van Rijn, artists that Picasso was so strongly influenced by during his late years.

It too carried a financial guarantee.

But again, Sotheby’s gamble and reading of the market paid off as bidders drove the picture comfortably above its low estimate. New York art trader Jose Mugrabi was the underbidder to a telephone buyer.

4. Lot #15—Andre Derain, Paysage a L’Estaque; Sold for: $6,848,000 (est. $3-5 million)

Painted in 1906, this brilliantly colored and sunny Fauve period work is a sought-after icon of the early Modernist movement.

Though Derain had a bumpy career, especially due to his association with Vichy France during the Occupation, the Fauve years are celebrated. That was evident as at least six bidders tried to buy the luminous landscape, one of 15 Derain painted during that productive summer in the Mediterranean port of L’Estaque.

Comprised of mosaic patches of hot colors that the artist referred to as “charges of dynamite,” the painting appears ablaze in light.

Though not signed, since the artist’s wife probably sold it during World War I when Derain was serving in the army, it will be included in a forthcoming catalogue raisonné supplement. There seemed little doubt about the picture’s authenticity since the final bid was double the low estimate.

5. Lot #32—Pablo Picasso, Femme Assise dans un Fauteuil; Sold for: $6,736,000 (est. $3-5 million)

It sure looks like a Picasso season as myriad examples from various periods pop up in the salesroom and establish new market values.

This relatively tranquil example, painted on Dec. 12, 1960, is yet another seated figure of one of the artist’s muses, the devoted Jacqueline Roque, whom Picasso married the following year and who remained his companion till his death in 1973.

Regal and alluring, she too sits on a throne-like armchair. As in some of his earlier portraits of Dora Maar, Picasso creates the stylistic device of a double-profile. An open book rests on her lap as if she’s momentarily lost in thought.

The painting was sold by the Metropolitan Museum of Art which held onto the gift from a Palm Beach collector for barely two years before sending it off to auction. That lofty provenance, however short-lived, certainly enlivened the bidding. And once again, the work went to an anonymous telephone bidder.

HOTTEST LOT

Lot # 14—Pablo Picasso, Dora Maar au Chat; Sold for: $95.2 million (est. $50-70 million)

Just look at the numbers.

QUOTES FROM THE CROWD

“The Dora Maar? It’s a very decorative and beautiful picture, but that’s really a lot of money,” said London dealer Thomas Gibson. “I’d love to know who bought it.”

“He looked like a doorman, there was nothing fancy on him,” said a Swiss dealer about the Dora Maar buyer. (The Swiss dealer later in the sale underbid against this anonymous, underdressed Picasso buyer for Marc Chagalls Le Paradis.) “He doesn’t speak English and no one seems to know him.”

“Who was this guy?” queried London dealer James Roundell. “Was it a ruse? Perhaps the real buyer wanted a proxy.”

“I’ll tell you what I think about the Picasso,” said Greenwich dealer Mirek Klabal. “It’s a crazy price and money means nothing.”

“He’s a totally inexperienced bidder,” said New York dealer Franck Giraud, about our mystery man. “He was sitting way back in the room, and nobody recognized him.”

“It’s the week of Picasso,” said London collector David Breuer-Weil. And, referring to the van Gogh Madame Ginoux and the Picasso Dora Maar, “ I also think it’s the week of women who don’t have to aspire to beauty.”

“It’s a very impressive market,” said New York private dealer Paul Herring. “They had at least four bidders over $50 million for the Picasso. It’s an unbelievable price.”

“It’s a high price,” said international art trader David Nahmad, “but it’s very difficult to find a picture of that scale and beauty of Dora Maar. It’s not even a question of money, it’s a question of opportunity. The star of the week is again Picasso because no one can beat him.”