Updated on: June 26, 2026 / 7:01 AM EDT
/ CBS/AFP
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The first part of a London auction of a museum-worthy private art collection raked in $392.6 million Wednesday, powered by an Amedeo Modigliani nude portrait that set a new European record. Meanwhile, a painting of a nude woman by a grandson of Sigmund Freud fetched nearly $39 million. Forty-eight works by artists including Picasso, Magritte and Klimt, amassed by Joe Lewis, the ex-owner of Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, were auctioned on Wednesday and Thursday. Lewis, 89, transferred his majority stake in the London football club to a family trust in 2022 and is now worth £5.8 billion, according to The Sunday Times Rich List. The Modigliani painting "Nu assis au collier" (Seated Nude Wearing a Necklace) sold for $63.9 million, the highest price achieved for a work by the artist sold at auction in Europe, Sotheby's said.
A piece by Amedeo Modigliani, Nu assis au collier, is shown on display at Sotheby's in central London, ahead of their Masterpieces from the Lewis Collection sale, on June 10, 2026.
