Rare Kusama and Picasso artwork hits the market

Bonhams auction house in New York is offering two extremely rare examples of modern masters.

The first is Pablo Picasso's Femme au Béret Mauve. The painting features one of Picasso's favorite muses, Marie-Thérèse Walter.

"She had a very sort of distinctive profile that fascinated Picasso and he draws great attention to it by coming close to it with the thick strokes of pigment, but then leaving a nice line along the left side of her face to remind the viewer that this is his great golden muse that he painted again and again," said Molly Ott Amber of Bonhams.

Bonhams is also offering some of the earliest works of Yayoi Kusama.

Kusama's Mississippi River and Hudson River paintings, both expected to fetch between $3 and $5 million, were given to Teruo Hirose, a longtime friend of the artist who was also her doctor when she came to the New York in the late 1950s.

"This is where it all began," said Jacqueline Towers-Perkins of Bonhams. "They're particularly rare, they are rendered in this vibrant, dynamic red pigment and they are just absolutely exceptional examples from her Infinity Nets series, which really is the hallmark of her oeuvre."

The Bonhams auction will take place on May 12 and 13.