Lucian Freud 'masterpiece' fetches £13.9 million at London sale

A nude by Lucian Freud that took 16 months to paint sold for £13.9 million ($18.2 million) at a London auction on Wednesday, the first time the work, hailed as a "masterpiece," has come to market.

Works by the British artist, who died in 2011, have attracted growing interest -- and prices -- in recent years.

"Ria, Naked Portrait" was the star attraction of Wednesday's sale, fetching £11,810,00, rising to £13,891,500 once the buyer's fee is added on.

"It's a late masterpiece," Anna Touzin, from auctioneers Christie's, told AFP. "It was painted between 2006 and 2007 and in the same collection since it was made.

"It's the first time it's coming to the market, which is really exciting."

Freud, considered one of Britain's greatest portrait artists, took 16 months to paint the work, with the subject -- Ria Kirby -- sitting virtually every day for up to five hours.

"So a really long process and I think it shows Freud's relationship with his sitters, the kind of dedication that they would give to him but that he also gave to them, painting them," Touzin added.

Freud -- the grandson of psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud -- is known for his uncompromising nudes and self-portraits, replete with flabby breasts or rounded stomachs.

"He doesn't want to portray an idealised view of the body... he's really trying to paint people as they are," said Touzin.

That has made Freud one of the most sought-after artists on the art market.

In 2022, his "Large Interior, W11" sold for a record $86 million, while in 2015, another nude, "Benefits Supervisor Resting", went for more than $56 million.

The Christie's sale also included Freud's "Head of a Woman", which sold for £4,187,880.

Works by Marc Chagall, Berthe Morisot, Willem de Kooning and Jeff Koons also went under the hammer.