(London) Towards a new record for Lucian Freud? The auction house Christie’s unveiled Thursday in London a little-known painting by this British painter who died in 2011, whose price on the art market has soared in recent years.
Ria, Naked Portrait is the centerpiece of a sale planned for the evening of October 9. Belonging to a private collection, the painting is being put up for auction for the first time.
It is valued at 10 to 15 million pounds (or $17.7 to $26.7 million).
Created between 2006 and 2007, this figurative painting is a “late masterpiece” by Lucian Freud, Anna Touzin of Christie’s told AFP.
“It took him 16 months to paint his model. She sat for him almost every day for almost five hours. This painting is the result of a long process,” deciphers this expert.
Considered one of the greatest British figurative painters of the 20th centurye century, Lucian Freud is known for his uncompromising nudes and self-portraits.
A painter of the flesh, he never beautifies his models and paints flabby breasts or obese bellies. “There is no artist like Freud,” assures the curator, who praises an artist “who represented people as they are”.
Ria, Naked Portrait is part of this continuity with the unvarnished representation of the body of a middle-aged woman.
This “honesty” in the representation of bodies contributed to his popularity and made him one of the most sought-after artists on the art market.
In 2022, Large Interior, W11 soared to more than $86 million, a record. In 2015, the spectacular nude Benefits Supervisor Resting (1994) sold for more than $56 million.
The Christie’s sale also includes another portrait of Freud, Head of a womanestimated at between 3 and 5 million pounds (or between $5.3 and 8.9 million).
Other works, including some by Marc Chagall, Berthe Morisot, William de Kooning and Jeff Koons, will be offered during this sale.
They are on display to the public until October 9 at Christie’s.