A Pablo Picasso painting donated to an Australian university was sold in June for £13.5 million at auction. The proceeds will benefit obesity, diabetes and cardiovascular research at the University of Sydney.

The work depicts his lover Marie-Thérèse Walter, whom he met in 1927 when she was 17 and he 45. The painting was snatched up by art collector Walter P. Chrysler Jr., son of the automobile tycoon, before being sold to the anonymous donor. Christie's puts its value at £9 million to £12 million (US$14 million to $18 million).

It is not clear why the donor picked the University of Sydney as the beneficiary for the Picasso, or why diabetes, obesity and heart research was chosen to benefit. In a statement, the university’s vice chancellor Michael Spence said the proceeds “will create multiple endowed chairs across several disciplines within a new multidisciplinary University centre dedicated to research into obesity, diabetes and cardiovascular disease”.

Source: http://blogs.nature.com/news/2011/06/a_picasso_fetches_135_million.html