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Freud work sets new world record | Freud work sets new world record |
(about 1 hour later) | |
A life-sized Lucian Freud painting of a sleeping, naked woman has set a new world record price for a work by a living artist. | A life-sized Lucian Freud painting of a sleeping, naked woman has set a new world record price for a work by a living artist. |
The 1995 portrait, titled Benefits Supervisor Sleeping, sold for $33.6m (£17.2m) at Christie's in New York. | |
The previous record was held by Jeff Koons' Hanging Heart, which fetched $23.5m (£12.1m) last November. | |
The Freud work, sold at auction for the first time, shows Jobcentre supervisor Sue Tilley, now 51, asleep on a sofa. | |
Christie's described it as a "bold and imposing example of the stark power of Freud's realism". | |
Ms Tilley, nicknamed "Big Sue", was introduced to the painter, now 85, by the Australian performance artist Leigh Bowery. | Ms Tilley, nicknamed "Big Sue", was introduced to the painter, now 85, by the Australian performance artist Leigh Bowery. |
She posed for Freud for four years in the early 1990s, and has said in the past of being his muse: "I think he probably picked me because he got value for money. He got a lot of flesh." | She posed for Freud for four years in the early 1990s, and has said in the past of being his muse: "I think he probably picked me because he got value for money. He got a lot of flesh." |
The previous auction record for a Freud painting was $19.3m (£9.9m), paid in November for his 1992 work IB and Her Husband. |