A nude paint that is the largest produced by Italian artist , Amedeo Modigliani, sold for $ 157 . 2 m ( N56. 7 bn ) in New York on Monday night, 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 . Monday ’ s sale failed to eclipse the $ 170 . 4 million paid for another Modigliani nude at Christie ’ s in 2015 .
Nearly 58 inches ( 147 centimeters ) wide , the picture was the cover star of a recent retrospective at the Tate Modern gallery in London.
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 before auctioneer Helena Newman brought the hammer down at $ 139 million . 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 .
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.
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 .
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