A chance encounter between a benefits office employee and a world-famous artist has led to what could become one of the most expensive paintings ever sold.
Sue Tilley was employed at an unemployment benefits office when she first encountered artist Lucian Freud. The artwork he created featuring her during the 1990s has become some of the most recognized and valuable pieces in contemporary art.
The painting titled “Sleeping by the Lion Carpet,” considered among Freud’s finest works, will be offered at Sotheby’s auction house on June 24. Experts expect it to sell for between 25 million and 35 million pounds, equivalent to $33 million to $47 million.
Despite the enormous sums her portraits have commanded at various auctions, Tilley has never received any portion of those proceeds. However, she expresses no bitterness about the situation.
“It did change my life,” Tilley shared with The Associated Press while viewing the 7 ½-foot (2.3-meter) tall nude portrait of herself displayed in the auction house. “Who would have thought I’d be in Sotheby’s?”
Created in 1996, “Sleeping by the Lion Carpet” represents the final piece in Freud’s series of four large-scale portraits showing Tilley in various resting positions. A previous work from this series, “Benefits Supervisor Sleeping,” achieved a then-record price for a living artist when it sold for $33.6 million in 2008.
“I was thrilled I was in ‘The Guinness Book of Records,’” explained the 69-year-old Tilley, whose infectious laughter reflects her joy at life’s unexpected turns. “Unfortunately, it didn’t say my name. There was a picture and it said ‘Benefits Supervisor.’ But I was still thrilled that it was there.”
The artist, who was the grandson of renowned psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud, became celebrated for his raw depictions of nude subjects including friends, family members, and himself. His technique involved applying thick layers of oil paint to reveal the complex skin tones of his subjects, creating portraits that were simultaneously honest and affectionate. He even created a portrait of Queen Elizabeth II, though she remained fully dressed. When he passed away at age 88 in 2011, he had earned recognition as Britain’s most distinguished portrait artist of the 20th century.
His artistic legacy has continued to flourish posthumously. Another Tilley portrait, “Benefits Supervisor Resting,” brought in $56.2 million at auction in 2015. In 2022, his work “Large Interior, W11” commanded $86 million.
Tilley’s introduction to Freud came through her friendship with Leigh Bowery, the deceased Australian performance artist who also served as one of the painter’s models. She remembers “trudging up the stairs” to reach Freud’s London workspace for sessions filled with tea and conversation, broken up by enjoyable meals. Each portrait required many months to complete.
Regarding “Sleeping by the Lion Carpet,” Tilley notes it “was the most comfortable one, because I was sitting up in a chair. Lying down on the sofa looks comfortable, but after a while it got a bit painful.”
Freud’s practice of painting friends, romantic partners, children, and professional associates resulted in artwork that was both daring and revealing. This approach has never troubled Tilley.
“I’m not really vain,” she explained. “Sometimes I get out of bed in the morning, and I look at my legs and go, ‘Oh, they look just like that painting.’”
She cherished the chaotic atmosphere of Freud’s workspace, where “he used to make you a drink and whisk it up with a dirty old paintbrush, and there was paint absolutely everywhere. I’d go home and there’d be bits of paint all over me.”
During the 1980s and 1990s, Tilley was connected to London’s artistic community, which included personalities like Bowery, who operated the experimental Taboo nightclub before his death in 1994 at age 33. She particularly appreciated Freud’s stories about his earlier bohemian experiences.
“I used to love hearing about when he was roaring around in a Rolls-Royce open top with Cecil Beaton and Marlene Dietrich and goodness knows (who), and when he met Judy Garland,” she recalled. “I used to love getting the stories of his youth and his misbehavior.”
The fact that her image will likely be purchased by extremely wealthy collectors doesn’t concern Tilley. “Benefits Supervisor Sleeping” was acquired in 2008 by Roman Abramovich, the former Chelsea Football Club owner who faced sanctions from the U.K. following Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine.
“Sleeping by the Lion Carpet” is featured in a June 24-25 auction showcasing pieces from British billionaire Joe Lewis’s collection, who holds majority ownership of Premier League soccer team Tottenham Hotspur. The sale will also include pieces by Henri Matisse, Gustav Klimt, Egon Schiele and other masters, with a combined estimated value exceeding 150 million pounds ($201 million).
The painting might establish a new auction record. Oliver Barker, chairman of Sotheby’s Europe, calls it Freud’s “magnum opus.”
“This is a painting that during his lifetime was very much described by Lucian as being the apogee of everything that he was trying to achieve as a painter,” Barker explained. “The market knows, and it’s very savvy, it wants to go for the best of the best — and this is it.”
Now retired and residing on England’s south coast, Tilley recalls that Freud “gave me a couple of etchings, and then I sold them, because I’d rather have the money, and I went on holiday.”
She harbors no resentment that Freud didn’t bequeath her one of the major paintings. Her position in art history is firmly established.
“When I was younger, I used to read art books the whole time and read all about the pre-Raphaelites and the Impressionists, all the goings on, how they’re all friends and interconnected and all the models knew each other,” she reflected.
“And now, I’ve only just realized, I’m part of that. And that’s thrilling for me that I’ve achieved my ambition without really knowing it.”
