Modigliani masterpiece to lead November sales week in New York

Nu couché (Reclining Nude), 1917-18, to headline a special curated Evening Sale in a week-long series devoted to major works of 20th century art

On Monday 9 November in New York, Christie’s will offer Amedeo Modigliani’s masterpiece Nu couché (Reclining Nude). The painting, executed in 1917-18, will be the centrepiece of a special curated Evening Sale of 20th Century Art focused on the theme of ‘The Artist’s Muse’.

The painting is one of a series of great female nudes made for Léopold Zborowski that famously caused a scandal nearly a century ago when they were exhibited at Modigliani’s first and only one-man-show at the Galerie Berthe Weill in Paris. Outraged by the content of this show — which had caused a crowd to form outside the gallery window where one of Modigliani’s nudes was openly on display — the police demanded the immediate closure of the exhibition.

The upcoming sale this November marks the first time this portrait will appear at auction. Estimated to exceed $100 million, the portrait is poised to break the world auction record of $70.7 million for any work by Modigliani, one of the greatest artists of the 20th century. 

‘This powerful and noble female nude is a work of timeless beauty and one of the greatest works by the artist’

‘This is quite simply one of the most important paintings I have handled in my long career at Christie’s,’ states Jussi Pylkkänen, Christie’s Global President and Chief Auctioneer. ‘There are a very small number of masterpieces that we dream of handling: this magnificent Modigliani has always been one of them.’

‘This powerful and noble female nude is a work of timeless beauty and one of the greatest works by the artist,’ he continues. ‘It is a particular honour to be entrusted with the sale of this painting as my own area of expertise has always been the early 20th Century avant-garde, the paintings that shook the foundations of convention.’ Mariolina Bassetti, Christie’s Chairman and International Director, Italy, adds, ‘This is the painting that defines Modigliani.’

The painting has been featured in major museum shows across the globe, including the Palais des Beaux Arts in Brussels, the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam, the Musée National d’Art Moderne in Paris, the Tate Gallery and the Royal Academy of Arts in London, the Museum of Modern Art in New York, and the Palazzo Reale in Milan.