Art dealers from around the world have gathered in Paris for an auction of so far unseen works by Pablo Picasso.

It's thought that the sale -- billed as one the most important of the end of the century -- could fetch at least thirty-million dollars.

The works come from a private collection kept in a bank vault by Picasso's one-time mistress, Dora Maar, who died last year as a virtual recluse.

The most important of seven oil paintings up for auction is "The Weeping Woman", which was painted at the time of the Spanish Civil War -- at around the same time as Picasso's masterpiece, "Guernica".