Les Femmes d'Alger (Version O)

Pablo Picasso completed this Les Femmes d'Alger (Version O) in February 1955, the final and largest painting in a series of 15 works inspired by Delacroix's 1834 work. The canvas explodes with fragmented female forms rendered in vivid reds, blues, and yellows, the figures' bodies deconstructed into geometric planes that fold and overlap throughout the composition.

Picasso created the series just weeks after Henri Matisse died in December 1954, later saying Matisse had left his odalisques to him as a legacy. The timing also coincided with the start of the Algerian War of Independence, lending political undertones to these reimagined harem scenes. At 44 by 57 inches, Version O stands as the culmination of Picasso's dialogue with art history through his Cubist lens.

In May 2015, the painting sold at Christie's New York for $179.4 million, setting the world auction record at that time. Hamad bin Jassim bin Jaber Al Thani, former Prime Minister of Qatar, acquired it. The sale demonstrated the enduring market dominance of Picasso's work and the series' significance in his late career.