Modigliani nude becomes one of the most expensive paintings in auction history

A once-controversial nude by Italian artist Amedeo Modigliani has become the one of the most expensive artworks ever to sell at auction.

The 1917 painting “Nu couché (sur le côté gauche),” which depicts a naked female figure in repose, sold for $157.2 million at Sotheby’s New York Monday evening, the highest auction price in the establishment’s history.

While the sale fell short of the $450 million record for a painting at auction, set by Leonardo da Vinci’s “Salvator Mundi” in 2017, it just exceeded initial estimates. Ahead of the sale, Sotheby’s had predicted bids in excess of $150 million, a new benchmark for the highest pre-auction estimate offered for a work of art.

The previous record estimate of $140 million was set by Christie’s in 2015 for Pablo Picasso’s “Les femmes d’Alger (Version ‘O’),” which went on to sell for $179.4 million.

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Leonardo da Vinci's "Salvator Mundi" became the most expensive artwork sold at auction in November 2017, when it went for over $450 million at Christie's in New York. Look through the gallery for more of history's priciest paintings.

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Pablo Picasso's "Les femmes d'Alger (Version 'O')" previously held the auction record after selling for $179.4 million in 2015.

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The sale of Edvard Munch's "The Scream" to billionaire Leon Black for $119.9 million in 2012 marked more than a new art record: it was the first time that a pastel, rather than an oil or acrylic painting, came anywhere near achieving such a price.

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Rock star Eric Clapton sold his "Abstraktse Bild" by art star Gerhard Richter in 2012 for £21.3 million, establishing a new record for a living artist and the highest price ever paid for a Gerhard Richter painting.

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Vincent van Gogh's "Portrait of Dr. Gachet" rocked the art world in 1990 when it sold to Tokyo's Kobayashi gallery for $82.5 million at Christie's-- more than twice the previous auction record.

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Pablo Picasso's "Garçon a la Pipe" broke the $100 million ceiling when it sold at Sotheby's for over $104 million in May, 2004 -- the first painting to exceed the record set in 1990 for the "Dr.Gachet."

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The portrait of the ample-bodied Sue Tilley, a British government worker, was one of four such paintings the British artist produced of the woman he called "Fat Sue." The portrait achieved a record for the artist when it sold at Christie's New York in May, 2015.

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Appetite for Modigliani's work had already been on the rise when this rare nude came up for sale. It set a new record for the artist -- and one of the highest prices ever set at auction -- when it sold at Christie's in November, 2015 to a Chinese billionaire bidding by telephone.

Part of Sotheby’s Impressionist & Modern Art Evening Sale, “Nu couché (sur le côté gauche),” went for “nearly six times the painting’s last purchase price in 2003,” according to the auction house’s verified twitter account.

The most expensive Modigliani is another of the painter’s nudes, “Nu Couché” (1917-18), which was bought by the Chinese billionaire Liu Yiqian for $170.4 million in 2015. Both artworks form part of a series of 22 reclining nudes painted between 1916 and 1919, only nine of which remain privately owned.

The nudes, in particular those featured in a 1917 exhibition in Paris, stirred significant controversy when they were first unveiled. The infamous show – the only solo exhibition of Modigliani’s work to take place during his lifetime – was reportedly closed within hours, as the artworks were deemed obscene by French police.

Other paintings from the series have also attracted large sums. “Nude Sitting on a Divan (The Beautiful Roman Woman)” sold for $69 million at Sotheby’s New York in 2010.

Aside from the Modigliani nude, Monday’s sale at Sotheby’s featured a number of other high-profile artworks. Other big sale lots included Picasso’s “Le Repos,” which sold for $36.9 million and Claude Monet’s “Matinée sur la Seine,” which went for $20.6 million.