Pursuits
Modigliani Nude Fetches a Record $170 Million in New York
- Museum owned by Chinese billionaire Liu Yiqian buys the piece
- Italian artist's previous auction record was $70.7 million
New York's $2 Billion Fall Art Auction Season
This article is for subscribers only.
Amedeo Modigliani’s painting of a sultry nude fetched $170.4 million from a Chinese buyer at Christie’s on Monday, a record for the Italian artist at auction.
Estimated at more than $100 million, Modigliani’s 1917 “Nu Couche (Reclining Nude)” has the highest valuation among almost 2,000 lots offered by three major auction houses during semiannual sales of Impressionist, modern, postwar and contemporary art in New York. It achieved the second-highest auction price for any artwork, after a Picasso painting from 1955 that sold in May at Christie’s for $179.4 million.