Roy Lichtenstein's "Nurse" painting (Associated Press photo)
Christie's on Monday smashed new world record prices at auction for Amedeo Modigliani and Roy Lichtenstein, selling works by the artists for $170.4 million and $95.37 million respectively.
Modigliani's "Nu Couche" or "Reclining Nude," painted in 1917-18, sold in New York after a frantic nine-minute bidding war in the first time the painting has ever come to auction.
It depicts a naked woman reclining on a luscious red couch and blue cushion, and provoked a scandal when it was first exhibited by the Italian artist in Paris.
A crowd gathered outside the window and outraged police ordered the exhibition to shut down immediately.
"It is unquestionably a masterpiece," Jessica Fertig, co-head of the Christie's sale, told reporters before the auction.
The specially curated evening sale entitled "The Artist's Muse" also set a new world record at auction for US artist Roy Lichtenstein, with his "Nurse" selling for $95.37 million.
That made it a shrewd investment for the seller, who acquired the comic book-inspired portrait for $1.65 million in 1995.
The price reached for "Nurse" - a shocked looking blonde with sexy red lips -- smashed the previous record for a Lichtenstein, set for "Women with Flowered Hat" in 2013 for $56 million.
Part of the artist's series of comic book-based images, it depicts the face of a woman in a starched nurse's hat and collar, with blonde hair and full red lips, looking to the side.
Simple yet mysterious, the square painting, measuring 48 by 48 inches (122 by 122 centimeters) appears as fresh today as when it was painted in 1964, and the image remains popular across the world.
It comes from the height of the US pop art movement and is a regular in retrospectives on Lichtenstein, who died in 1997 and who was heavily inspired by advertising and comic books.
The canvas was first bought by renowned pop art collector Leon Kraushar, who also owned works by Andy Warhol including "Red Jackie" and "Green Liz."
The auction was led by Jussi Pylkkanen, Christie's number two.
It follows record-breaking sales in New York in May, when more than $2.6 billion of art was sold in 10 days.