One of Europe's most significant private art collections is set to go under the hammer in London, with Sotheby's placing a record-breaking pre-sale estimate of more than £200 million (€237 million) on the 48 works. The collection belongs to the family of Joe Lewis, the 89-year-old billionaire and former owner of Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, whose net worth is estimated at £5.8 billion (€6.7 billion).
The Lewis Collection spans modern and contemporary masterpieces, with standout pieces including Amedeo Modigliani's 1917 nude Nu assis au collier, expected to sell for over £45 million (€53 million). This painting, which first appeared at Modigliani's only solo exhibition during his lifetime at Paris's Berthe Weill gallery, caused such scandal that police shut down the show almost immediately. It has not been on the market since 1995.
Masterpieces from Klimt, Degas, and Freud
Other highlights include Gustav Klimt's Portrait of Gertrud Loew (estimated at £20–30 million), Edgar Degas's rarely seen bronze Petite danseuse de quatorze ans (£18–25 million), and Pablo Picasso's Buste de femme, a portrait of his muse Dora Maar (£12–18 million).
Lucian Freud's Sleeping by the Lion Carpet, a nude portrait of his model Sue Tilley, is also on offer. Oliver Barker, chairman of Sotheby's Europe, called it "arguably the greatest Lucian Freud painting ever to make its way to market." Freud met Tilley through the Australian performance artist Leigh Bowery in the late 1980s; Tilley was a close friend of Bowery's and worked with him on London's club scene. The painting was recently shown at the National Portrait Gallery in London.
Barker described the collection's psychological intensity: "As you walk around the galleries... there is this kind of intense psychological profiling of everything, and every work is a masterpiece too and it's really extraordinary."
The previous record for a single-owner collection sold in Europe was set by the Yves Saint Laurent and Pierre Bergé collection in 2009, which eventually sold for the equivalent of around £333 million (€395 million) at Christie's.
The Lewis Collection is on free public display at Sotheby's London until 23 June. For those interested in London's cultural scene, the city also offers exceptional hotels and a vibrant art world, as seen in the recent London Design Museum exhibition on NIGO's influence.
