Tali and Meshulam Riklis. ‘Our most expensive painting is a Francis Bacon’ Photo: Rafi Deloya
Billionaire Meshulam Riklis sells Amedeo Modigliani’s ‘Portrait de Anne Bjarne’ to Jewish French businessman for some $8.5 million
The most expensive painting sold in Israel exchanged hands Tuesday for NIS 31.4 million (about $8.5 million).
The painting, Amedeo Modigliani’s “Portrait de Anne Bjarne” from 1919, was sold on the phone to a Jewish French businessman. The seller is Israeli-American billionaire Meshulam Riklis, who had kept the expensive piece of art at his home in the United States.
Riklis bought the painting 30 years ago in New York for about $1 million.
“This isn’t our only Modigliani,” Riklis’ wife Tali said Tuesday. “Neither is it the most expensive painting we own. That titles goes to a Francis Bacon.”