A major collection of masterpieces by some of modern art's most celebrated names is set to be auctioned by Sotheby's in what is expected to be the most valuable collection ever offered in London. The works, consigned by billionaire Joe Lewis and his daughter Vivienne, whose family owns Tottenham Hotspur, include paintings by Gustav Klimt, Egon Schiele, Amedeo Modigliani, Francis Bacon, Henri Matisse, Chaïm Soutine, Lucian Freud, and Gustave Caillebotte. Sotheby's has announced that the group is expected to realize more than £150 million.
Record-Breaking Auction Week
Combined with other works coming to market in June, the sale could make this the highest value week of auctions ever staged in London. Oliver Barker, Sotheby's Europe chair, described the collection as a rare concentration of museum-calibre masterpieces, particularly strong in modern figurative painting. Many of these works have not been seen on the market for decades, underscoring their rarity and art-historical significance.
Barker called the auction one for the history books, following last September's sale of the Pauline Karpidas collection, which fetched £101 million and became the highest-value single-owner sale in London. He noted that the auction revived confidence in the global art market, demonstrating that collectors are inspired by collections built from a singular vision steeped in coherence, rarity, and history.
Exhibition and Highlights
Highlights from the Lewis collection will be exhibited in New York and London before the June sales. Among the leading lots is a full-length society portrait by Klimt, Bildnis Gertrud Loew (Gertha Felsőványi) from 1902, estimated at £20-30 million. The painting, stolen by the Nazis, has recently hung alongside other Klimt works at the Neue Galerie. Critic Ludwig Hevesi once described it as the most sweet-scented poetry the palette can create. Sotheby's noted that only five major Klimt portraits have come to auction in the past 25 years, each exceeding its top estimate.
Also on offer is Schiele's Danaë, painted when the artist was just 19, demonstrating the skills that came to define him. It is estimated at £12-18 million, potentially breaking the record for a Schiele work. Other highlights include Modigliani's Homme à la pipe (Le notaire de Nice), unseen for almost half a century and estimated at £12-18 million, and a rare double self-portrait by Bacon from 1977, estimated at £8-12 million.
Lewis's Passion for Art
Joe Lewis was born and raised in London's East End, where he developed a passion for the School of London painters, including Bacon and Freud. This early passion became the foundation of one of the world's most significant private collections of modern art, shaped by a fascination with the human figure. Barker described bringing the works to London as a full-circle moment, with the collection presented with all the care, attention, and fanfare its importance commands.
The June auction follows the sale of four School of London works from the Lewis Collection at Sotheby's in March, which made £35.8 million, double their combined low estimate. A spokesperson for the Lewis Collection said the family has always been drawn to art that reflects what it means to be human, and welcomed the strong response as a sign of the enduring power of figurative painting.
