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Nude portrait of Bea Arthur fetches nearly $2M at auction

The painting 'Bea Arthur Naked' sold for $1.9 million. John Currin / Courtesy Christie's

TORONTO — A painting of a topless Bea Arthur sold Wednesday night for nearly $2 million.

Artist John Currin’s Bea Arthur Naked was snapped up by an anonymous buyer for $1.9 million at Christie’s auction house in New York.

The oil painting was expected to fetch as much as $2.5 million.

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Christie’s described the painting as “beautiful in its execution, infamous in the press, and simultaneously nostalgic and repelling with its subject matter.”

Arthur, famous for her titular role on the series Maude and as Dorothy on The Golden Girls, died in 2009. She was 86.

Currin’s depiction of the actress — who didn’t pose for the portrait — with sagging bare breasts was widely criticized as misogynist and sexist when it was unveiled in 1991. Some people countered that it was a bold statement about confidence and feminism.

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