Yahoo Lifestyle Kate Moss Reveals Tattoo Worth £1 Million
Kate Moss has revealed the tattoos on her lower back, created by Lucian Freud, are worth the princely sum of £1 Million.
The 39-year old supermodel, who befriended the late artist in 2002, told Vanity Fair, "When he was in the navy, when he was 19 or something, he used to do all of the tattoos for the sailors. And I said, 'Oh my God, that's amazing.' And he went, 'I can do you one. What would you like? Would you like creatures of the animal kingdom?'”
When Moss mentioned she like birds, Freud’s response was somewhat unexpected, the model reports.
"He pointed down at a painting of a chicken upside down in a bucket,” Moss explained.” And I said, 'No, I'm not having that. And then he said, 'Maybe I should just do you.' And I thought, I'm not going to have a girl on my a***. So we decided to do a flock of birds.”
Moss joked that if she ever needed money in the future, she’d “get a skin graft and sell it”.
"I mean, it's an original Freud,” said Moss. “I wonder how much a collector would pay for that? A few million?”
Lauded as one of the greatest artists of the 20th century, Freud was also responsible for creating a nude painting of Moss when she was pregnant with daughter Lila Grace.
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"I went to his house and he started [the nude painting] that night,” Moss said. “Couldn't say no to Lucian. Very persuasive. I phoned Bella [his daughter] the next day and said, 'How long is it giong to take?'. She said: 'How big is the canvas'. I said, 'it's quite big.' She said: 'Oh dear, could take six months to a year.’"
Considering Moss posed for the artist seven nights a week for nine months, with the painting selling for a staggering £3.9m, it seems Moss’s tattoo was a small price for Freud to pay.
