Modigliani sells for $157.2 mln in New York: Sotheby's

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A stunning nude that is the largest painting produced by Italian artist Amedeo Modigliani sold for 157.2 million US dollars in New York on Monday, becoming the fourth most expensive work of art sold at auction.

Painted a century ago, Modigliani's masterpiece "Nu couche (sur le cote gauche)" fetched the highest price in Sotheby's history and was the star single lot in the May art auction season in New York.

Modigliani follows Leonardo da Vinci and Pablo Picasso as the third highest-selling artist at auction. Da Vinci's Monday's sale failed to eclipse the 170.4 million dollars paid for another Modigliani nude by Chinese collectors Liu Yiqian and his wife at Christie's in 2015.

Christie's auctioneer Jussi Pylkkanen auctions Amedeo Modigliani's "Nu couche'" during a curated auction at Christie's entitled "The Artist's Muse" in Manhattan, New York November 9, 2015. /VCG Photo

Modigliani reinvented the nude for the modern era, and when his series of paintings were first exhibited in 1917, they were considered so shocking that police closed the show in Paris.

Bidding was restrained, lasting three to four minutes and opening at 125 million dollars before auctioneer Helena Newman brought the hammer down at 139 million dollars. The final price includes a buyer's premium. The price chalks up a healthy profit for its seller, who acquired the picture in 2003 for 26.9 million dollars.

Modigliani completed 22 reclining nudes and 13 seated nudes between 1916 and 1919. Most of the former are found in museums, such as The Museum of Modern Art and the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.

"Nu Couche(sur le cote gauche)" by Amedeo Modigliani is seen during a Sotheby's preview of the May Evening Sale of Impressionist and Modern Art, in New York on May 4, 2018. /VCG Photo

Simon Shaw, co-head of impressionist and modern art at Sotheby's, said the painting sold Monday, while rooted in tradition, reflected the changing status of women during World War I. "This is a nude of a very self-possessed, sexually confident woman who is not looking out from a distance. She's absolutely meeting our gaze," he told AFP prior to the sale.

Modigliani's dealer Leopold Zborowski gave him a stipend of 15 francs a day and paid the models five francs to pose in a Paris apartment.

Source(s): AFP