After a lengthy bidding war, Nu Couche by Amedeo Modigliani was finally sold to an anonymous bidder for a mind boggling $170.4 million. The painting is now officially the second most expensive artwork ever auctioned, and it is also the tenth work of art to exceed the $100 million threshold at auction. It was sold by Christie’s at a New York event.
Nu Couche by Amedeo Modigliani
The previous record price for a Modigliani painting was $68.9 million (2010), while the artist’s former most expensive artwork was a carved stone head of a woman, which sold for $70.7 million (2014). The world’s most expensive artwork to date is Paul Gauguin’s When Will You Marry painting, sold in February 2015 for $300 million.
When Will You Marry by Paul Gauguin
Nu Couche was painted between 1917 and 1918, and it anchored The Artist’s Muse special auction of sculptures and paintings created between the 1860s and 2000s. The canvas shows a nude woman with dark hair resting on a red couch, with a blue pillow supporting her back and head.
