by 
On Monday night in New York, auction house Christie’s sold Amedeo Modigliani’s Reclining Nude painting to the Chinese billionaire Liu Yiqian for a staggering $170.4Million
The artwork means Modigliani is the creator of the second-most expensive painting ever sold at an auction.. Only Picasso’s Women of Algiers, brought in May for around $180 million, has sold for more. Read about the untold hardship behind this picture…
The painting was created in 1917. Modigliani who sold his paintings back then for 5 francs was never a household name in his lifetime. In January 1920, he started to cough blood, and was diagnosed with tubercular meningitis. The disease killed him, aged just 35.
The following morning his heavily pregnant wife stepped backwards out of a fifth-floor window and killed herself, as well as the unborn child she was carrying.
 |
| Beatrice Hastings, (right) who inspired some of painter and sculptor Amedeo Modigliani (left) ‘s best work |