Nude portrait by Amedeo Modigliani sets record at auction

The first part of a London auction of a museum-worthy private art collection raked in $392.6 million Wednesday, powered by an Amedeo Modigliani nude portrait that set a new European record. Meanwhile, a painting of a nude woman by a grandson of Sigmund Freud fetched nearly $39 million. Forty-eight works by artists including Picasso, Magritte and Klimt, amassed by Joe Lewis, the ex-owner of Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, were auctioned on Wednesday and Thursday. Lewis, 89, transferred his majority stake in the London football club to a family trust in 2022 and is now worth £5.8 billion, according to The Sunday Times Rich List. The Modigliani painting "Nu assis au collier" (Seated Nude Wearing a Necklace) sold for $63.9 million, the highest price achieved for a work by the artist sold at auction in Europe, Sotheby's said. A piece by Amedeo Modigliani, Nu assis au collier, is shown on display at Sotheby's in central London, ahead of their Masterpieces from the Lewis Collection sale, on June 10, 2026. Yui Mok/PA Images via Getty Images Gustav Klimt's full-length society portrait "Bildnis Gertrud Loew" achieved the second highest price of the evening. Pursued by seven bidders, it sold to a private collector from Asia for $47.9 million. Lucian Freud's "Sleeping by the Lion Carpet" achieved $38.8 million. …