"Bea Arthur Naked" Sold For $1.9 Million At Christie's Auction; "Golden Girl" Topless Portrait Becoming Controversial[VIDEO AND PAINTING PIC]

"Naked Bea Arthur," which features the "Golden Girl" and "Maude" star topless, has been sold for millions. The 1991 painting by John Currin was sold at a Christie's Auction on Wednesday for a whopping $1.9 million. The controversial oil portrait, which has now been banned on Facebook, was bought by an anonymous bidder on Wednesday.

Bea Arthur's topless portrait was actually bought for way less than anticipated. Everyone wanted a piece of the deceased "Golden Girl" and the web was buzzing with figures as high as $2.5 million. But a secret bidder, whom must be a huge Bea fan, acquired the work at Christie's Post-War and Contemporary Art Sale in New York City for $1.9 million.

The Christie's auction netted a whopping $495 million for 70 lots on the block. Jean-Michel Basquiat's "Dustheads," circa 1982, notched a new record for the late legendary artist with a sale of $48 million to Warner Music Group Group mogul Len Blavatnik.

The naked painting of Dorothy from "The Golden Girls" has been banned from Facebook. The artwork showing Bea's breasts is apparently too racy for its members. The site's terms of service technically forbid nudity, but not in art. So the decision is controversial and may be reverted soon.

Currin's work is now widely acclaimed and hangs in museums such as the Whitney. He once said he considered Arthur 'more of a maternal figure than a feminist icon. I watched "Maude" all the time when I was a kid. She's a genius. She's funny because she's so much smarter than everyone around her.'

Arthur, famous for her Emmy-winning roles in the 1970s and '80s television series 'Maude' and 'The Golden Girls,' died of cancer in 2009 at age 86.

Here's what critics have said about "Bea Arthur Naked"

        "Boycott this show." (Kim Levin, The Village Voice, 1992)

         "There are critics and other art world luminaries who find Currin's art, though technically admirable, to be derivative, extremely vulgar, and downright quirky." (Frederick Winship, UPI, 2004)

         "Toe-curling, embarrassing provocations, leading to knee-jerk accusations of sexism, ageism and misogyny" (Adrian Searle, The Independent, 1995)

         "Blasts of seriously bad taste" (James Hall, The Guardian, 1996)

         "A graduate of Yale's art school, Currin can paint, however, no better or worse than dozens of others." (Peter Goddard, Toronto Star, 2004)

Others put it differently:

         "Those middle-aged women are not objects of mockery, as it happens, but memorable in their proud desperation to keep up appearances, and dignified in the case of the actress Bea Arthur bare-breasted." (Michael Kimmelman, New York Times, 2003)

         "Naked, Arthur nevertheless remains composed and dignified, her smile and slightly peaked eyebrows conveying a sense of irony, even amusement. The portrait is too psychological for the everyday antifeminist caricature." (David Rimanelli, ArtForum, 2003)

         "I'm not one of Currin's assassins. I was pretty entertained by his exhibition at the Whitney Museum of American Art." (Geoff Gehman, The Morning Call, 2004)

         "I loved her character and the persona of that particular age ... They were sympathetic paintings, even though they seem mean-spirited." (The artist himself, Rocky Mountain News, 2003)

Do you like "Bea Arthur Naked" or should the "Golden Girl" cover up?