COURTESY CHRISTIE’S
Christie’s auction house in New York will be selling Amedeo Modigliani’s Nu couché (Reclining Nude) at a special evening sale of 20th century art on Monday, November 9, organized around the theme of “The Artist’s Muse.” The auction will kick off the November sales week, and will be Christie’s attempt to rival its success at the auctions last May, when Christie’s made $1.7 billion in sales over the course of one week.
This is the first time that Modigliani’s painting will be appearing at auction. The price is, according to Christie’s, “estimated to exceed $100 million.” The current record for a Modigliani work is $70.7 million.
Jussi Pylkkänen, Christie’s global president and chief auctioneer said in a statement, “This is quite simply one of the most important paintings I have handled in my long career at Christie’s. There are a very small number of masterpieces that we dream of handling: this magnificent Modigliani has always been one of them.”