Modigliani nude painting fetches record $170.4m at New York auction

A painting by Amedeo Modigliani fetched $170.4 million at an auction Monday, setting a world record for the artist and achieving the second highest price ever garnered for a work of art at auction. “Reclining Nude” was sold at Christie’s in Manhattan after a protracted bidding battle to Chinese collectors Liu Yiqian and his wife, Wang Wei. Considered one of his best known works, the 1917-1918 painting nearly created a scandal when it was first exhibited in Paris. The previous auction record for a Modigliani was $71 million.

This is a great opportunity for us to collect a world masterpiece and will bring our museum to a new era.

Buyer Liu Yiqian tells the Wall St Journal

Pablo Picasso’s painting “Women of Algiers (Version O)” set the record for the highest sum ever paid for an artwork at auction. It sold for $179.4 million at Christie’s in May. A Roy Lichtenstein painting not seen on the market for 20 years also set a world record for the artist. “Nurse” sold for $95.3 million, almost doubling the previous auction record for the pop artist of $56 million. Tuesday’s post-war and contemporary art sale also has a mammoth bronze “Spider” sculpture by Louise Bourgeois, estimated at $25 million to $35 million.

There is clearly good appetite among collectors for exceptional works of art offered with appropriate estimates.

Brook Hazelton, president of the Americas for Christie’s