BERLIN – A revealing photograph of former model and France’s current first lady Carla Bruni was bought for 13,900 euros (about C$21,500) by an anonymous bidder Thursday at a Berlin auction house.
The image is one of 10 prints of a nude Bruni lounging in an unmade bed captured by American fashion photographer Pamela Hanson in 1994.
The Villa Grisebach auction house appraised “Carla Bruni in Bed” at between 2,500 and 3,500 euros and talked to prospective buyers from as far away as Mexico, according to the house’s photography expert, Franziska Schmidt.
“I really don’t know why there is such a hype,” Schmidt said. “For us it is not the highlight.”
Last year, Christie’s auction house in New York sold a different nude print of Bruni for 30 times more than anticipated. An anonymous bidder paid US$91,000 for the photograph.
Villa Grisebach would not provide any information on the winning bidder Thursday.
