A newly authenticated painting by Amedeo Modigliani, "Jeune femme brune" (1917–18), is being offered for sale by Pace gallery at Art Basel Hong Kong with a price tag of €11.5 million ($13.3 million). The work, the highest-priced piece at the fair, was only recently included in art historian Marc Restellini's forthcoming Modigliani catalogue raisonné after decades of authentication disputes and legal battles.
The sale is significant because it marks the dramatic rehabilitation of a work once pulled from a 1997 Phillips auction due to doubts over its authenticity. Its inclusion in the definitive catalogue, based on new scientific analysis of pigments and archival research confirming a 1929 exhibition, validates the painting and underscores the high-stakes, evidence-driven process of authenticating major modern works. The sale also highlights Pace's strategy of celebrating the catalogue's publication by featuring a Modigliani at each fair this year.