Chinese billionaire Liu Yiqian bought Amedeo Modigliani’s painting of a reclining nude woman for $170.4 million, the second-highest price for an artwork at auction, in a volatile sale at Christie’s in New York.
Modigliani’s 1917 “Nu Couche (Reclining Nude)” anchored Christie’s special, mixed-category sale titled “The Artist’s Muse,” which included 34 paintings and sculptures created from the 1860s through the 2000s. The evening tallied $491.4 million, setting five auction records for artists including Gustave Courbet and Roy Lichtenstein, whose painting of a nurse sold for $95.4 million. The Modigliani price was an auction record for the Italian artist.
“Prices have reached the Promised Land,” billionaire collector Eli Broad said after the sale. “I can’t imagine it going much higher though. Can you?”
Marathon Sales
Some resistance was already visible during the packed evening sale, which was part of a 10-day marathon in which more than $2.1 billion of art is on offer at Christie’s, Sotheby’s and Phillips. Ten lots failed to find buyers, including those by Lucian Freud and Willem de Kooning.
The results fell within Christie’s presale target range of $442 million to $540 million, but were 30 percent lower than the company’s first hybrid sale in May, “Looking Forward to the Past.” That auction tallied $705.9 million, and a Pablo Picasso painting set a new auction record at $179.4 million.
To win the prized artworks, Christie’s offered the sellers of 17 pieces minimum guaranteed prices regardless of the outcome in the salesroom. Initially, the guarantees were backed by Christie’s. Before the auction started, Jussi Pylkkanen, the auctioneer, announced that five guaranteed lots, including top works by Modigliani and Lichtenstein, were financially backed by third parties, a move that reduced Christie’s risk but could also eat into potential profit.
Bidding for Modigliani’s ravishing brunette on a red couch started at $75 million and attracted seven hopefuls. The Long Museum in China was the buyer of the Modigliani, according to Christie’s. The museum was founded by Liu Yiqian, who frequently buys art with his American Express card.
Sensational Price
“It was a sensational picture and it brought a sensational price,” said Guy Jennings, managing director of the Fine Art Fund in London and Christie’s former deputy chairman of Impressionist and modern art in New York. “It was the best painting Modigliani ever made. It’s not often that you can say this about an artwork at auction.”