Modigliani's Nu couché fetches $157M at Sotheby's

Sotheby's Impressionist & Modern Art Evening Sale on May 14, 2018, achieved $318.3 million, with 71% of lots sold. The top lot was Amedeo Modigliani's Nu couché (sur le côté gauche) from 1917, sold for $157 million, the second-highest price for the artist after a 2015 record of $170.4 million. The painting had a pre-sale estimate of $150 million, the highest ever for a single lot, surpassing Leonardo da Vinci's Salvator Mundi. It was guaranteed by an irrevocable bid. The work was previously exhibited at Tate Modern's Modigliani show until April 2, 2018. The consignor, Irish breeder John Magnier, had acquired it from Christie's in 2003 for $26.9 million, marking a sixfold increase. This sale set a Sotheby's record for the highest price for a painting. Other notable results: Pablo Picasso's Le Repos sold for $36.9 million to an Asian collector; Claude Monet's Matinée sur la Seine fetched $20.6 million; Georgia O'Keeffe's Lake George with White Birch achieved $11.3 million (estimate $6 million); and Mary Cassatt's A Goodnight Hug set a record for a work on paper at $4.5 million. The following day, Christie's Impressionist and Modern Art sale totaled $415.9 million, with top lots by Kazimir Malevich ($85.8 million) and Constantin Brancusi ($71 million).