Picasso painted this portrait of a Parisian boy wearing a wreath of flowers and holding a pipe in 1905, at the age of 25, during his so-called Rose period. Although the style of the present painting is not instantly associated with Pablo Picasso, most commonly linked to his early adaptations to Cubism, Garçon a la Pipe, is a one-of-a-kind masterpiece depicting adolescent beauty. Cheerful ochre and pink palette of the background and the flowers in combination with the boy’s contemplative expression miraculously express both femininity and masculinity of a teenage model. A number of studies for the present painting depict the same boy in all types of poses: standing, sitting and leaning against the wall. The artist also experimented with the model’s interaction with the pipe... Garçon a la Pipe became the most expensive work of art sold at auction at the time when it sold for $104 million at Sotheby’s in 2004. (http://www.galleryintell.com/artex/garcon-la-pipe-boy-pipe-pablo-picasso/)