Portraits of her naked body have sold for tens of millions, but Sue Tilley hasn’t seen a penny

LONDON – In the world of contemporary art, there are works valued on par with luxury mansions or private jets. Yet, behind these staggering figures sometimes lies a paradoxical tale involving ordinary people. Sue Tilley—a woman who once worked at an unemployment benefits office in London—serves as a prime example.

The nude portraits of her, created by the renowned artist Lucian Freud, have sold for tens of millions of dollars and have become icons of modern art. However, the very woman depicted in these works admits that she received almost none of the proceeds from these high-profile transactions.

In the early 1990s, Sue Tilley worked at an employment center in London. Her life changed when her close friend, Leigh Bowery, introduced her to Lucian Freud—one of Britain’s greatest portrait painters.

Freud was renowned for a painting style so realistic that it bordered on the brutal. He did not seek idealized beauty but focused on the human body exactly as it is in its natural state—complete with every wrinkle, fold of skin, and trace of time.

It was precisely Sue Tilley’s voluptuous figure and natural demeanor that captured his attention. For several years, she served as Freud’s model, sitting for hours in his studio while he completed his large-scale paintings.

The result was the creation of four celebrated works: *Evening in the Studio* (1993), *Benefits Supervisor Resting* (1994), *Benefits Supervisor Sleeping* (1995), and *Sleeping by the Lion Carpet* (1996). These works subsequently became a significant part of the history of contemporary British painting.

Currently, *Sleeping by the Lion Carpet* is regarded as one of Freud’s masterpieces. This large-scale painting depicts Sue Tilley sleeping on a leather sofa, her nude body rendered with astonishing detail.

According to Sotheby’s, the work is expected to fetch between £25 million and £35 million (approximately $33–$47 million) when it goes up for auction in London in June 2026. Many experts consider this a rare opportunity to acquire a top-tier masterpiece by Freud.

Upon visiting Sotheby’s galleries to see the colossal portrait of herself once again, Sue Tilley could not conceal her delight. She jokingly remarked that she sometimes feels her body is “worth around £100 million,” yet in reality, she receives none of the proceeds from these transactions.

What surprised the public was that, despite the immense value of the artworks, Sue Tilley was compensated merely as a standard model during her time working with Freud.

According to past interviews, she was paid approximately £20–£33 for a posing session lasting several hours. At the time, no one could have predicted that these paintings would eventually become artistic assets worth tens of millions of dollars.

“I never imagined I was participating in the creation of one of the world’s most expensive paintings,” she told the media. For Sue, it was simply an interesting job and an opportunity to interact with a genius artist.

In the art market, models typically do not have the right to benefit from the subsequent resale of artworks. The appreciation in value accrues primarily to the artist, the collector, or the current owner of the piece. Consequently, although Sue Tilley’s image appears in globally renowned paintings, she receives no percentage from any subsequent sales.

In 2008, the painting *Benefits Supervisor Sleeping* sent shockwaves through the art world when it sold for $33.6 million at an auction in New York. At the time, this marked the highest price ever paid for a work by a living artist.

This event transformed Sue Tilley into a figure highly sought after by the international press. However, she revealed that she learned of the auction through media reports rather than directly from the auction house. After the artwork set this record, numerous media outlets and tabloids approached her with bizarre proposals aimed at capitalizing on her sudden fame.

Nevertheless, Sue maintained a sense of humor and composure. She did not view herself as a victim of the art establishment; instead, she considered the privilege of becoming a part of art history to be the greatest reward of all.

What makes Freud’s paintings exceptional is the way he subverts traditional aesthetic standards.

In the history of Western art, nude paintings have typically idealized the body. In contrast, Freud depicts the human form in all its unvarnished reality—heavy, fragile, aging, and completely unsparing in its exposure of flaws. Critics regard his works featuring Sue Tilley as the most vivid testament to this artistic philosophy.

Her layers of skin, curves, and natural resting postures were rendered by Freud through thousands of meticulous brushstrokes. The result is a body of work that has been simultaneously controversial and acclaimed as masterpieces of modern realism.

Today, approaching the age of 70, Sue Tilley has retired and lives a quiet, peaceful life in southern England. Although she owns none of Freud’s paintings—nor has she benefited from the million-dollar auctions—she still feels a sense of pride when looking back on her extraordinary journey.

“I never imagined I would end up at Sotheby’s,” she remarked as she stood before the colossal portrait of herself. That statement perfectly encapsulates the life full of surprises led by a woman who was once merely an ordinary office worker, yet went on to become one of the most celebrated faces in the history of contemporary art.

Sue Tilley’s story illustrates that the value of art does not always translate into financial gain for those who helped create it. Her nude portraits have become assets worth tens of millions of dollars, exhibited in renowned museums and auction houses around the world. Yet, for Sue, what is most precious lies not in the numbers.

It is the fact that an ordinary woman has been permanently etched into the history of painting, becoming a symbol of a new perspective on beauty, the body, and humanity. And although she has never received “a single penny” from those multi-million-dollar transactions, Sue Tilley remains an inseparable figure from the monumental artistic legacy that Lucian Freud bequeathed to the world.