The art world prepares for an unprecedented moment this summer as Sotheby’s London presents the Lewis Collection, the most valuable single collection ever offered in the capital. Assembled over decades by Joe Lewis and his daughter Vivienne, this extraordinary assembly of modern art masterpieces carries an estimate in excess of £150 million ($200 million).
Museum-calibre works by Gustav Klimt, Egon Schiele, Amedeo Modigliani, Francis Bacon, Gustave Caillebotte, and Lucian Freud anchor this landmark sale. The collection’s significance transcends its monetary value, offering rare access to some of the greatest achievements in modern figurative painting.
A Collector’s Journey from London’s East End
The Lewis Collection story begins in London’s East End, where Joe Lewis was born and raised. His collecting journey started with a natural affinity for the School of London painters, particularly drawn to artists like Francis Bacon and Lucian Freud, whose work confronted the human condition with uncompromising intensity.
“Right from the outset, we have been drawn to art that reflects what it means to be human: to works that capture the people who inhabited these artists’ worlds , their friends, muses, lovers and contemporaries , but in very different ways that embody the ambitions and pre-occupations of each artist,” explained a spokesperson for the Lewis Collection.
This early passion evolved into a broader fascination with figurative art, ultimately developing into one of the world’s most important private collections of modern art. The collection captures the radical inventiveness of leading 20th-century artists, shaped by an enduring fascination with the human figure in all its forms.
New York Preview Reveals Collection Highlights
Before the main London exhibition and sale in June, select highlights from the collection will be unveiled to the public at Sotheby’s headquarters in New York’s historic Breuer Building from 2-18 May. This preview offers art enthusiasts their first opportunity to experience these masterpieces in person, many of which have not been seen on the open market for decades.
The New York exhibition will feature some of the collection’s most significant works, including Gustav Klimt’s ethereal full-length society portrait “Bildnis Gertrud Loew (Gertha Felsőványi)” from 1902, estimated at £20-30 million. This captivating portrait depicts the ethereal figure of 19-year-old Gertrud Loew, a member of fin-de-siècle Viennese society, wreathed in diaphanous folds of gossamer fabric.
Klimt portrait carries wartime history
The Klimt portrait carries particular historical significance, having been commissioned by Gertrud’s father, Dr Anton Loew, one of Vienna’s most celebrated physicians at the time. When first shown at the Wiener Secession’s Klimt exhibition in 1903, the great Viennese art critic Ludwig von Hevesi described it as “the most sweet-scented poetry the palette is able to create.”
The work’s provenance tells a poignant story of wartime displacement and eventual restitution. When the Nazis arrived in Vienna, Gertrud came under pressure due to her Jewish ancestry and reluctantly agreed to leave for exile in the United States in early 1939, leaving the entire Felsöványi art collection behind. Thanks to research by Ursula Ucicky, who established the Klimt Foundation in Vienna in 2013, the full provenance was unearthed, and the portrait was subsequently sold following a settlement between the Felsöványi heirs and the Klimt Foundation.
Schiele’s breakthrough masterpiece
Among the exhibition’s highlights is Egon Schiele’s “Danaë” from 1909, estimated at £12-18 million. Widely regarded as a key breakthrough work, this painting was created when the artist was just nineteen years old, marking the first full expression of Schiele’s extraordinary vision that would define his revolutionary aesthetic.
The work demonstrates Schiele’s extraordinary talent as a draughtsman, with the sureness of line around Danaë’s hand, shoulders and right arm contrasting sharply with the delicate washes that illuminate her face. Here, Schiele reimagines the mythological scene in which Zeus descends on Danaë in a shower of golden rain, its heaviness accentuated by the introduction of greens and blacks.
Modigliani’s Final Mediterranean Period
Unseen for nearly half a century, Amedeo Modigliani’s “Homme à la pipe (Le notaire de Nice)” from 1918 represents one of the crowning achievements of the artist’s late career. Created during Modigliani’s final phase when he relocated to Nice with his companion Jeanne Hébuterne, this work benefits from the Mediterranean light that softened his palette while his compositional authority remained undiminished.
The portrait depicts a mature man known as the Notary of Nice, wearing a dark suit and black cap, his left hand raised to hold a pipe. Behind him, warm tones of orange and beige evoke the light of the Côte d’Azur, their softness thrown into quiet relief by the dark mass of the figure. This work belongs to Modigliani’s last luminous burst of creativity, when his style was fully formed and his artistic vision at its peak.
Bacon’s haunting self-examination
Francis Bacon’s “Two Studies for Self-Portrait” from 1977, estimated at £8-12 million, represents one of the most powerful and intimate expressions of the artist’s late career. Executed at the height of his international acclaim, this double-portrait captures an artist beset by inner turmoil following the suicide of his love George Dyer in 1971.
When asked in 1979 why he made so many self-portraits, Bacon explained: “people have been dying around me like flies and I’ve had nobody else to paint but myself.” In these haunting, life-scale images, Bacon appears as a double death mask: pink and purple apparitions dissolving into encroaching darkness, mouths mangled, eyes sealed shut.
Caillebotte’s Impressionist Innovation
The collection also features Gustave Caillebotte’s “Portrait de Paul Hugot” from 1879, a monumental portrait that was a daringly modern submission to the Fifth Impressionist Exhibition in 1880. Described by contemporary critic Armand Silvestre as “by far [Caillebotte’s] best piece,” the painting captures the unique synthesis of intimacy and rigour that defines Caillebotte’s distinctive style.
Caillebotte’s financial independence allowed him artistic freedom not afforded to other Impressionist group members. Unfettered by monetary need, he developed his own unique pictorial language, blending acute awareness of light and shadow with a meticulous eye for composition, gesture, proportion and character.
Freud’s forensic intimacy
Lucian Freud’s “Woman in a Grey Sweater” from 1987-88 demonstrates the artist’s characteristic intensity of observation combined with immense intimacy. This portrait of Susanna Chancellor, painted over several months, exemplifies Freud’s ability to capture the human figure with unflinching, almost forensic intensity while maintaining remarkable warmth and liveliness.
The collection also includes works by Chaïm Soutine and Pablo Picasso, further demonstrating the breadth and quality of the Lewis Collection. Soutine’s “Portrait de garçon en bleu” from circa 1928 showcases the artist’s extraordinary invention and subtlety as one of art’s finest colourists, while Picasso’s “Portrait de Dora Maar” from 1936 captures the artist’s fascination with his muse and fellow artist.
Building on Record-Breaking Precedents
This landmark sale follows the successful presentation of four School of London masterpieces from the Lewis Collection at Sotheby’s London in March, which doubled their combined low estimate to realise £35.8 million ($48 million). It also follows last September’s record-setting collection sale, which achieved £101 million ($137 million) to become the highest-value single owner sale ever staged in London, a title now set to pass to the Lewis Collection.
Oliver Barker, Sotheby’s Chairman for Europe, reflected on the significance of this moment: “Joe Lewis grew up amid the creative ferment of post-war London, the city of Bacon, Freud, and Kossoff, where the School of London first ignited his passion as a collector. That early spark developed into a broader passion for figuration, and from that into one of the world’s most important private collections of Modern art, with works that have been shown and celebrated in museums across the globe. Now, in the city where this story began, it is a privilege to present these works together as the most valuable private collection ever offered in London. Truly a full circle moment.”
An ongoing collecting journey
The spokesperson for the Lewis Collection emphasised that this sale represents a significant milestone in an ongoing collecting journey: “We were encouraged to see the School of London works we offered in March so well received , an affirmation both of a movement that has long resonated with us, and of the enduring power of figurative painting.
With the group to be offered in June, we hope to spark a similar sense of discovery , inspiring a new generation of collectors to engage with works that have been a source of joy and fascination for us, and that have shaped our own collecting journey over many years.
During that time we have , like many of our collector peers , reshaped and refocused the collection. While this public sale represents a significant staging post, our journey as collectors is far from over , we remain committed to the avant-garde painters of today, much of whose work is informed by the artists showcased here.”
Museum-Quality Provenance and Exhibition History
Many works in the Lewis Collection have been exhibited in major museums across the globe, testament to their exceptional art historical significance. The collection includes some of the greatest works of modern figurative painting to remain in private hands, with several pieces having not appeared on the open market for decades.
The Lucian Freud work, for example, was acquired from the Saatchi Collection in 1997 and has since been exhibited in prestigious institutions including the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles, Tate Britain in London, the Whitechapel Gallery in London, and the Museo Nacional de Arte Reina Sofía in Madrid.
London’s historic art market moment
This summer’s presentation represents a culmination of London’s position as a global centre for the art market. The Lewis Collection sale coincides with Sotheby’s traditional Summer season in London, typically devoted to celebrating the vibrancy of the cultural scene in the capital, both contemporary and historical, similar to recent historic sales including royal collections at major auction houses.
The auction, scheduled for the week of 22 June at Sotheby’s New Bond Street, promises to attract collectors and art enthusiasts from around the world. With works spanning from the fin-de-siècle Viennese masters to the post-war School of London painters, the collection offers a comprehensive survey of modern figurative painting’s evolution.
The Lewis Collection represents more than a commercial transaction: it embodies a passionate commitment to understanding humanity through art. Each work tells a story of artistic achievement and human experience captured through the distinctive vision of history’s greatest modern artists. As these masterpieces prepare to find new homes, they carry with them decades of careful stewardship and an enduring testament to the power of figurative art to move, challenge, and inspire successive generations of viewers.
*Images: Sotheby’s
