AFP, LONDON
Works by artists including Pablo Picasso, Rene Magritte and Gustav Klimt, amassed by former Tottenham Hotspur Football Club owner Joe Lewis, head to auction this month with a total sales estimate of ￡200 million (US$268 million).Lewis, 89, transferred his majority stake in the London soccer club to a family trust in 2022 and is now worth ￡5.8 billion, The Sunday Times said in its “Rich List.”A total of 48 works from the Lewis Collection would go on sale, including a once-scandalous nude painting by Amedeo Modigliani with an estimate of more than ￡45 million and a bronze sculpture of a dancer by impressionist artist Edgar Degas with an estimate of ￡18 million to ￡25 million.
A staff member looks at a painting during a media preview by Sotheby’s in London on Thursday to highlight masterpieces from the Lewis Collection.
Lewis also bought paintings by artists of the Vienna Secession movement such as Klimt and Egon Schiele, and modernist and surrealist works by Magritte and Picasso.The most recent works are paintings by British artists Lucian Freud and Francis Bacon.
“There’s never ever been a collection of this magnitude that’s ever been offered [for sale], actually, either in the UK or indeed in Europe,” Sotheby’s Europe chairman Oliver Barker said.The estimate of more than ￡200 million is “the most valuable pre-sale estimate that’s ever been put on a private collection offered anywhere in Europe,” the auctioneer said.The most highly valued works include Klimt’s Portrait of Gertrud Loew from 1902 — expected to sell for ￡20 million to ￡30 million.Modigliani’s Nu assis au collier (Seated nude wearing a necklace), which scandalized Paris when it was unveiled in 1917, is anticipated to sell for more than ￡45 million.Other highlights include Picasso’s Buste de femme (Bust of a woman) from 1938, depicting French artist Dora Maar, valued at ￡12 million to ￡18 million.Meanwhile, Sleeping by the Lion Carpet, painted by Freud in 1995 to 1996, a nude depiction of his model and muse Sue Tilley, has been priced at ￡25 million to ￡35 million.This is “arguably... the greatest Lucian Freud painting ever to make its way to market,” Barker said.The lots are on display at Sotheby’s until June 23, with free public access.The 25 most valuable works would go under the hammer on June 24, the others the next day. Auctioning the collection would mark a “new beginning” for Lewis — recently pardoned by US President Donald Trump after he pleaded guilty to insider trading in 2024 — and his family, Barker said.The auction sale record for a single private collection in Europe was set in 2009 by the art collection of the late fashion designer Yves Saint Laurent and his partner Pierre Berge.It had an estimate of 200 million to 300 million euros (US$231.52 million to US$347.28 million), but the works eventually sold at Christie’s for 373.9 million euros.The figure of ￡200 million is “very moderately estimated,” Barker said, expressing hope that it could fetch more.In March, four other paintings from the Lewis Collection by British artists from the School of London group, including Freud and Bacon, sold for ￡35.8 million in a packed Sotheby’s saleroom.In a return to blockbuster art sales, auctions in New York this spring set record prices for works by Jackson Pollock, Constantin Brancusi and Mark Rothko.“You know there’s been a great deal of wealth creation around the world at the moment and I think more of it has been driven to the art market,” Barker said.The upward trend follows a slump in sales, blamed by experts on economic uncertainty and a lack of high-value works on sale. “The market has been so starved of true masterpieces, and so the opportunity to acquire works of this caliber truly is a great opportunity,” Barker added.
