Nu Couché

Amedeo Modigliani painted the Nu Couché (Reclining Nude) in 1917, depicting a woman stretched across a crimson couch with a blue cushion. Her body twists with the elongated proportions characteristic of Modigliani's style, influenced by African sculpture and Italian Renaissance Mannerism. The figure gazes directly at the viewer with the artist's signature almond-shaped blank eyes.

When Modigliani exhibited these nudes at Galerie Berthe Weill in Paris in December 1917, police shut down the show on opening day. The stated offense was the frank depiction of pubic hair, visible to passersby from the street. It was Modigliani's only solo exhibition during his lifetime, and the scandal cemented his reputation as a provocateur.

The painting sold at Christie's New York in November 2015 for $170.4 million, the second-highest auction price ever at that time. Chinese billionaire Liu Yiqian acquired it for the Long Museum in Shanghai, reportedly inspired by a film about Modigliani's tragic life. The artist died of tubercular meningitis in 1920 at age 35.