Modigliani’s Nu Couche, up for sale at Sotheby’s on May 14. Sotheby's
The trees are budding, the grass is turning green, daffodils and pansies are emerging from hibernation. Spring is here, which means auction houses are readying for some of their biggest events of the year: the Impressionist, modern and contemporary art sales in New York City.
Hogging much of the attention of what may prove to be a billion-dollar season at both Christie’s and Sotheby’s is a 1917 painted nude by Amedeo Modigliani that has been estimated at $150 million. It’s the highest estimate for any work of art at auction, ever (though not the highest figure a work of art has sold for at auction—that goes to Leonardo Da Vinci’s Salvator Mundi, which fetched $450 million at Christie’s last year) and it hits the block on May 14 at Sotheby’s Impressionist and Modern auction.
Who Currently Owns Modigliani’s Nu Couche?
Though not confirmed by the house, it’s widely known that the painting is being sold by John Magnier, 70, an Irish venture capitalist and owner of the Tipperary-based thoroughbred stud farm, Coolmore Stud, who purchased the painting for $26.9 million at a Christie’s auction in 2003. If it meets its high mark, the painting will have turned quite the profit for the Irish business magnate. Prior to that, the painting, titled Nu Couche (sur le cote gauche), had belonged to Las Vegas casino owner Steve Wynn.
Both are widely considered savvy art investors. Wynn’s tastes, based on his record-setting auction purchases, range from Old Masters (Vermeer and Rembrandt) to Modern (Monet and Picasso) and contemporary (Jeff Koons). In 2012, Wynn purchased Koon’s sculptural “Tulips” for $33.6 million at Christie’s and, two years later, outbid all others for the artist’s “Popeye” for $28 million at Sotheby’s. In 2004, after he bought the Modigliani, ARTnews listed John Magnier as one of its top 10 collectors in the world, noting his interest in equestrian art and works by British artists, such as Sir Joshua Reynolds.
Modigliani I Know
- "when i know your soul, i will paint your eyes" -
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f-GMYDoTfI0