Modigliani nude painting fetches record $170.4M in NY

In an overheated art market where anything seems possible, a painting of an outstretched nude woman by the early-20th-century artist Amedeo Modigliani sold on Monday night for $US170.4 million ($241.7 million) with fees, in a packed salesroom at Christie’s.

Roy Lichtenstein’s “Nurse”, left, and Chuck Close’s dual paintings “Leslie and Self Portrait”, right, are among masterworks installed at Christie’s for the upcoming NY evening art auctions of impressionist, modern.

It was sold was sold for the second-highest price on record for a work of art at auction. The previous auction record for a sculpture by the artist was $11.2 million.

Among the notable collectors and celebrities at Christie’s were the fashion designer Valentino (“I came as a spectator”, he said) and Eli Broad, the philanthropist. “I can’t imagine it going much higher, though”. Ten of the 34 paintings put on the auction block did not sell, including a Willem de Kooning and a Picasso.

A new record was set for an auction sale of work by Roy Lichtenstein, the pop artist best known for his vibrant, cartoon-style works. Just before the sale, Christie’s announced that a third party had stepped forward to share the risk – as well as any proceeds above the guaranteed price.

While the Modigliani and the Lichtenstein drew the big dollars in Manhattan today, the Christie’s sale blew hot and cold. The museum was founded by Liu Yiqian, who frequently buys art with his American Express card.

The price reached for “Nurse” – a shocked looking blonde with sexy red lips – smashed the previous record for a Lichtenstein, set for “Women with Flowered Hat” in 2013 for $56 million.

Gustave Courbet’s “Femme Nue Couchee” was another female nude on a couch that brought an artist record price of $15.3 million. The work’s value increased about 5,500 percent in the 20 years since it last sold at auction.

Paul Gauguin’s carved wood sculpture of a woman, “Therese” (1902-1903), fetched $30.9 million, surpassing the high estimate of $25 million. It was pursued by Stephane C. Connery, a private art dealer, and Paul Gray, director of Richard Gray Gallery in Chicago and NY whose clients include hedge-fund manager Kenneth Griffin. The victor was a client of Conor Jordan, Christie’s deputy chairman of Impressionist and modern art in NY.

Great works that haven’t been seen on the open market for decades, like the Modigliani, “created a huge amount of energy and bidding”, said Pylkkanen, Christie’s global president. Three Picassos have sold at auction for at least $100 million since 2004, the Times reported. Sotheby’s’ contemporary sale follows on Wednesday. The “Masterworks” auction from the Taubman collection brought in a total of $377,034,000.

Artnet News called it “pure, quintessential Modigliani”, with rich colors, “lush paint handling” and “pulsing eroticism”.