Modigliani sells for $157.2 million at Sotheby’s

Amedeo Modigliani: ‘Nu couché (sur le côté gauche)’

Modigliani sells for $157.2 million at Sotheby’s Amedeo Modigliani’s ‘Nu Couché (sur le côté gauche)’ has been sold for $157.2 million at Sotheby’s, the highest price in Sotheby’s history.]]>

May 15th 2018, source: Sotheby’s

Amedeo Modigliani’s 1917 “Nu couché (sur le côté gauche)” sold for $157.2 million –the highest auction price in Sotheby’s history. The work was purchased at auction by the most recent owner in 2003 for $26.9 million, making tonight’s result a nearly six-fold increase in value. Modigliani belongs to a rarefied league of only three artists to break the $150 million barrier at auction, along with Pablo Picasso and Leonardo da Vinci.

A quarter of all works sold at the sale were acquired by Asian private collectors. Those works were led by Pablo Picasso’s dreamy 1932 portrait of Marie -Thérèse Walter, “Le Repos”, which fetched $36.9 million. A portion of the proceeds from the work will go to charity through The Sue J. Gross Foundation. The painting last sold at auction in 2000 for $7.9 million.

Another highlight of the Picasso group was “Famille d’arlequin” from 1905, an exquisite example of the artist’s celebrated Rose period that sold for $11.5 million to an Asian private collector. The work is distinguished from his related works of harlequins by the palpable mood of tenderness and domestic life.

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Modigliani’s ‘Nu couché (Reclining Nude)’ sells for $170 million at Christie’s (news, 2015)