Nude photo of Madonna sells for $37,500

A full-frontal, nude photo of a 20-year-old Madonna has fetched $37,500 (€29,000) at a New York auction, an apparent record auction price for a photograph of the superstar singer.

According to Christie’s auction house, an unnamed European buyer bought the picture, which had been expected to sell for up to $15,000 (€11,665).

Madonna, then known as Madonna Louise Ciccone, was a dancer trying to make ends meet when she answered a newspaper ad seeking a nude model. She may have earned as little as $25 (€20) for the 1979 photo session.

Lee Friedlander’s raw, explicit black-and-white image appeared in Playboy in 1985.

The photograph auctioned was one of six from that shoot that appeared in Playboy; the other five pictures were sold together in 2003 for $7,170 (€5,560).