A nude painting, Modigliani’s Nu couche (sur le cote gauche), when it was first made in 1917, was considered so offensive that police shut the exhibition down, but, as it seems now that same painting has been sold for billions of Naira. The painting which features a defiant nude woman sold for $157.2m (N56.7bn) at an auction in New York City. The buyer paid $139m for the artwork but the buyer’s premium brought the total price up to $157.2m.Â
The painting remains Modigliani’s largest at 147cm wide, as it sold at the auction of impressionist and modern art at Sotheby’s on Monday evening. The painting also has the highest pre-auction estimate – $150m. The former owner of the artwork bought it back in 2003 for $26.9m.  Photo Credit: Getty
