$170M Modigliani painting too hot to handle for some media

This week,Reclining Nude, Italian artistAmedeo Modigliani'spainting depicting a nude model reclining on a crimsoncouch,fetched $170.4 million US at a New York auction, the second-highest price ever paid for a work of art at an auction.

For some media outlets the subject matter of the painting was obscene, rather than the price. The amount paid was only second to the $179 million paid in May for Picasso'sWomen of Algiers (Version O).

Severalmedia outlets censored photos of the painting by blurring out body parts or covering them withblack boxes.

"I think it's crazy," Rachel Bouchard,owner of The Front Gallery in Edmonton, told Edmonton AM's Mark Connolly Wednesday. "It's mostly because of her position."

The painting was done during the First World War,and Modigliani was using the beauty of thefigure to counter the ugliness of the war, Bouchard said.

You can hear more of what Bouchard had to say in the video.