Picasso's $40m harlequin leads sale of 'last Surrealist' Enrico Donati's private collection

This May, Sotheby’s will offer works from the collection of Adele and Enrico Donati, two leading figures in New York’s creative circles. A highly important presence within the Surrealist milieu, Enrico Donati, often referred to as “the last Surrealist”, was at once an artist and trusted confidant to many of the movement’s leading figures, counting Marcel Duchamp, Max Ernst and André Breton among his close friends. Alongside him was his wife Adele Donati, a designer and artist, who viewed the collection with a discerning eye, informed by her work across advertising and fashion. The collection, which was rarely exhibited publicly, reflects the breadth of Enrico’s close friendships and influences. It is led by Pablo Picasso’s Arlequin (Buste), est. in the region of $40m, one of the artist’s most significant early Cubist portraits, created just two years after Les Demoiselles d’Avignon. It is among the most important works from this decisive mom