Credits: Sailko / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 3.0.
Sold on June 24, 2026 at Sotheby’s London, Nu assis au collier reached £48.2 million. That represents about €56 million, according to the auction house cited by several European media outlets. This Modigliani painting thus sets a European auction record for the artist, without erasing his New York records.
A European Record, But Not A World Record
The figure is impressive, but it requires a precise reading. The amount of £48.2 million corresponds to the final price including fees reported for the London lot. It is therefore not a simple hammer price in isolation. HENI tracks art sales and provides another reference. Its report indicates $63.91 million including fees for Nu assis au collier. The sale is converted there into dollars.
This distinction is essential. In pounds, euros, or dollars, the painting does not tell exactly the same story. It all depends on which fees are included and which conversion rates are used. The European record mentioned around the sale should therefore remain tied to its scope. It is the highest price achieved at auction in Europe for a work by Modigliani, according to Sotheby’s. This wording is cited notably by the general press. It is not a world record.
The artist’s global highs remain in New York. Two other Modigliani nudes, Nu couché, surpassed much higher thresholds in sales in 2015 and 2018. Ocula reminded readers before the sale that those results had placed Modigliani in a very restricted circle. Few artists have exceeded $100 million at auction twice.
The Showpiece Of The Lewis Collection
The lot came from the sale Masterpieces from the Lewis Collection. This group came from the family of British businessman Joe Lewis. Sotheby’s organized this dispersion in London around major names in modern and contemporary art. Picasso, Klimt, Freud, Degas, Schiele and Bacon were notably in the catalogue.
According to HENI, the first session totaled $392.6 million, or £296.3 million. The report counts 24 lots sold out of 25 announced. It also indicates that 17 works exceeded their high estimate. None sold below their low estimate. For a private-collection sale organized in Europe, the signal is strong. It is not enough, however, to diagnose the state of the market on its own.
The market for modern masterworks remains highly selective. It can still absorb high prices for rare, well-identified, well-documented works with clear provenance. That does not mean the entire European market is recovering uniformly. The Lewis sale rather shows that large lots, when they concentrate rarity, history and international visibility, continue to attract buyers.
A Rare Work In The Nude Series
The Sotheby’s lot entry identifies Nu assis au collier as an oil on canvas measuring 91.5 by 59.7 cm. The work was executed in 1917–1918. It is signed in the upper right and belongs to the series of nudes painted by Modigliani at the end of his life.
This series occupies a particular place in the artist’s legend. It is linked to the exhibition organized in 1917 by dealer Berthe Weill in Paris, the only solo show of Modigliani during his lifetime. The presentation was quickly interrupted by the police, in a context where these nudes offended the moral conventions of the time. More than a century later, that initial scandal still feeds the symbolic value of these paintings.
Artnet noted before the sale that Nu assis au collier was returning to auction for the first time in more than thirty years. The same article placed the work among Modigliani’s most sought-after nudes. This corpus remains small compared with his overall output. The rarity argument here weighs as much as the artist’s name.
A Long And Visible Provenance
Sotheby’s documents a provenance that goes back to dealer Léopold Zborowski. This central figure in Modigliani’s Paris circle precedes Jonas Netter and several European and American galleries. The canvas later appeared in exhibitions in London, New York, Chicago, Brussels, Basel, Paris and Sydney.
The painting also has a recent, clearly traceable history. According to the provenance published by Sotheby’s, it was acquired by the current owner at Christie’s in New York. The sale took place on May 10, 1995. Artnet indicated that the purchase price then reached $12.4 million. Three decades later, the London sale measures the rise in the artist’s market. It also measures the ability of a patrimonial narrative to carry a hammer price.
The lot entry further specifies that the work has been requested for the exhibition Modigliani Nord Sud. This is scheduled at the Grimaldi Forum in Monaco from July 8 to September 3, 2028. That museum projection strengthens the cultural legibility of the painting beyond the financial result alone.
London Tests Its Auctioning Power
The sale is also part of a broader sequence for Sotheby’s London. After Brexit and several cautious seasons, the London marketplace continues to defend its role in international sales. A private collection of this level, entrusted when the overall market is not euphoric, serves as a large-scale test.
The Modigliani result gives Sotheby’s a strong image. It ties a European record for the artist, according to the auction house and the media repeating that qualification. It also ties a flagship lot sold above its low estimate. The first session finally exceeds overall expectations. This result does not say everything. The remainder of the dispersion and other London sales will test this concentration of buyers. We will see whether it applies to a few masterworks only or to a broader segment.
What Nu assis au collier already confirms is the solidity of a specific type of value. In modern art, a rare, recognized, exhibited and documented painting can still create its own market. It must also remain tied to a powerful cultural story. Modigliani’s European record is not just a price. It is the result of provenance, image and rarity made immediately legible by the London sale.