Discarded Tamayo sells for $1 million

An abstract masterpiece by a Mexican artist that was found in the trash by a woman who knew little about modern art has been sold for more than $1 million.

The painting, “Tres Personajes,” by Rufino Tamayo, was discovered in 2003 by Elizabeth Gibson, who spotted it on her morning walk on Manhattan’s Upper West Side. She took it home because, she said, “Even though I didn’t understand it, I knew it had power.”

The brightly colored abstract work was purchased for $1,049,000 by an unidentified private American collector bidding by phone at Sotheby’s Latin American Art sale Tuesday night.

Painted in 1970, “Tres Personajes” was purchased by a Houston collector for $55,000 as a gift for his wife at a Sotheby’s auction in 1977. Ten years later, as the couple was moving to a new home, it was stolen from storage.

The husband has since died, and the widow, who wished to remain anonymous, decided to sell it. Gibson received a $15,000 reward for turning in “Tres Personajes” and also will get a percentage of the sale price.