With the hope of catching Modigliani momentum evident at auctions in Europe over the past couple years, Phillips is bringing a rare sculpture by the Italian-born modernist to the marquee New York sales in November with a hefty price tag.
Modigliani’s Tête (1911–12) will hit the block with a $28 million–$35 million estimate. If it sells, the sculpture will be one of the most expensive three-dimensional works ever sold at auction by the artist, who is best known as a painter of female nudes with almond-shaped eyes.
The sculpture belongs to a larger series of heads, examples of which are generally held by major institutions, from the Metropolitan Museum of Art to the Tate museum network. This one was carved from a block of limestone and features a slender face with a long nose and a tiny, smiling mouth.
Modigliani is thought to have produced around 28 sculptures during his short lifetime. Twenty-six of them survive.
Calling Tête a “masterpiece,” Phillips deputy chairman of the Americas and senior international specialist Jeremiah Evarts said in a statement, “Fresh to the market after almost half a century in the same important private collection, Tête embodies everything that makes Modigliani’s sculpture so revered, including its profound art historical importance.” (The house did not immediately identify who had previously owned the work.)
Tête is not likely to become the most expensive Modligiani sculpture ever sold, however. In 2010, Christie’s sold another stone head for $52.8 million, in what was then Modigliani’s overall record. The same auction house sold another Tête in 2019 for $34.3 million.
Modigliani’s current record, it is worth noting, is far higher than the upper end of Phillips’s estimate for its Tête. That benchmark stands at $170.4 million, as minted by the 2015 sale of his 1918 painting Nu couché, which remains one of the most expensive artworks ever brought to auction.
Still, Phillips is likely hoping to catch a wave of market interest in Modigliani evident in auctions staged over the past two years. In 2025, at Christie’s in Paris, a portrait by the artist sold for $31.3 million, tripling its estimate and setting a new record for the artist in France. Then, earlier this year, a painting of a nude woman from the collection of Joe Lewis sold for $63.5 million at Sotheby’s in London, creating a new record for Modigliani in Europe.