Phoenix 24
A painting once condemned as indecent now commands extraordinary prestige.
London, June 2026
A nude painted by Amedeo Modigliani more than a century ago has returned to the center of the art world after contributing to a record-breaking auction in London. Nu assis au collier, created around 1917 and 1918, formed part of the celebrated collection assembled by British billionaire Joe Lewis and his family. The Sotheby’s sale generated approximately £306 million across 48 lots, establishing a new European record for an auction devoted to a single owner. Two works by Modigliani, including the historic nude, sold for a combined £48 million.
The result connected contemporary wealth with one of the most notorious episodes in modern art. In December 1917, Parisian gallery owner Berthe Weill organized the only solo exhibition dedicated to Modigliani during his lifetime. Several female nudes were displayed prominently, including works showing pubic hair without the idealized concealment traditionally expected in academic painting. A police official from a nearby station ordered the exhibition closed on its opening day after declaring the display indecent.
The closure was not necessarily permanent. Historical accounts suggest that the gallery resumed operating after removing the most controversial paintings from direct view through the street-facing windows. Nevertheless, the police intervention became inseparable from Modigliani’s reputation. The incident transformed an exhibition with limited commercial prospects into a lasting symbol of artistic confrontation with social convention.
Nu assis au collier belongs to the same period and visual universe as those controversial works, although it is not always identified conclusively among the specific paintings displayed in Weill’s exhibition. The composition presents an unidentified woman seated with a necklace, her body rendered through Modigliani’s characteristic elongated forms, simplified features and controlled curves. One hand rests between her legs, introducing an ambiguity that can be read as protective, intimate or quietly provocative.
The painting differs from the idealized nudes that dominated European art academies. Modigliani did not disguise the body through mythology, historical narrative or allegory. His model appears as a contemporary woman occupying her own physical space. The directness of that representation helped make the series shocking in 1917 and culturally important in subsequent decades.
Modigliani produced many of his best-known nudes under the patronage of the Polish art dealer Léopold Zborowski. The dealer provided models, painting materials and access to a working space while paying the artist a modest daily allowance. Zborowski understood that the paintings