{"id":2009592,"date":"2026-06-24T23:12:54","date_gmt":"2026-06-24T20:12:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=2009592"},"modified":"2026-06-24T23:12:54","modified_gmt":"2026-06-24T20:12:54","slug":"63-5-m-modigliani-from-lewis-collection-leads-sothebys-london-june-sale","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=2009592","title":{"rendered":"$63.5 M. Modigliani from Lewis Collection Leads Sotheby\u2019s London June Sale"},"content":{"rendered":"

[analyse_image type=”featured” src=”https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Sothebys-Masterpieces-from-the-Lewis-Collection-and-Contemporary-and-Modern-Art-Evening-Auction-Credit-Rayan-Bamhayan-courtesy-Sothebys-3.jpg?w=1024″]<\/p>\n

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\n\tAgainst the backdrop of British Prime Ministers Keir Starmer\u2019s resignation and London\u2019s hottest-ever June day, a Sotheby\u2019s double-header evening sale on Wednesday offered a rare note of reassurance. A total of 24 museum-quality works from modernist heavyweights hit the auction block from the collection of billionaire investor Joe Lewis, featuring works by Pablo Picasso, Claude Monet, and Francis Bacon. A modern and contemporary auction followed, containing lots that read like a roll call of resilient blue-chip artists this side of 1860: Alberto Giacometti, Mark Rothko, Egon Schiele, Georg Baselitz, Roy Lichtenstein, David Hockney, to name a few.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cMasterpieces from the Lewis Collection,\u201d as the first sale was titled, realized \u00a3296 million ($390 million), setting a record for a single-owner collection sale in London. The \u201cModern & Contemporary Evening Auction\u201d achieved \u00a397.1 million ($128.1 million). Combined, they brought in a total of \u00a3393.4 million ($520.7 million) on Wednesday night, or the \u201chighest total ever achieved in a single night at auction in Europe,\u201d according to Sotheby\u2019s. Over 70 percent of works sold achieved prices in excess of their high estimates. The night\u2019s second half, 85 percent of which sold by lot, marked a 55 percent increase on the equivalent sale last June\u00a0of \u00a362.5 million ($82.3 million).<\/p>\n

\n\tThere\u2019s a lot of money sloshing around the top-end of the art market right now, as the past two marquee New York auction seasons have proven. The market is trying to recover, but elite collectors seemingly want only trophy works; raging global conflicts, economic uncertainty, and political turmoil have whittled demand down to the safest names. Wet paint auctions feel like a distant memory, with frivolous, speculative art buying, especially from 2020 to 2022, now being pass\u00e9<\/em>. Risk-off investing is in, and the houses have been choreographing their sales accordingly.<\/p>\n

\n\tBut \u201csafe\u201d doesn\u2019t simply mean famous. Collectors are competing for works with scarcity, exceptional provenance, and a clear place in art history. Part of that demand is coming from Asia. Sotheby\u2019s reported that Asian collectors bid on half of the Lewis collection lots, scooping up more than a third of the works on offer.<\/p>\n

\n\tAuctioneer Oliver Barker, the house\u2019s chairman of Europe, was first to helm the rostrum. Kicking off the Lewis collection, Gustave Caillebotte\u2019s Portrait de Paul Hugot <\/em>(1978) saw more than 30 bids, ultimately selling for \u00a310.2 million ($13.5 million), double its high estimate. \u201cThis will set the tone for what will be a record sale here tonight,\u201d Jussi Pylkk\u00e4nen, Christie\u2019s former global president who runs the London-based Pylkk\u00e4nen Art advisory, texted via WhatsApp as the hammer came down.<\/p>\n

\n\tA ripple of applause from Sotheby\u2019s packed New Bond Street salesroom followed the sale of Lot 2, Ren\u00e9 Magritte\u2019s La Belle Promenade<\/em> (1965), after it went for a shade over \u00a316 million ($21.1 million). Its high estimate was only \u00a34 million ($5.3 million). Next, Picasso\u2019s Buste de Femme<\/em> (1938) sold north of its \u00a318 million ($23.7 million) high estimate for \u00a323.8 million ($31.4 million). Henri Matisse\u2019s 1935 canvas Lydia (\u00c9tude pour \u2018Portrait au Manteau Bleu\u2019)<\/em> was then snapped up for \u00a33.75 million ($4.9 million), almost double its high estimate. My phone pinged: \u201cThis is a cleverly managed start comprising three modernist market darlings, and a stellar work by Caillebotte,\u201d Pylkk\u00e4nen added.<\/p>\n

\n\tHalf an hour before the sale kicked off, I called David Schrader, Sotheby\u2019s former private sales rainmaker who recently joined forces with Pace Gallery and Emmanuel Di Donna to launch a new secondary market dealership. \u201cThe material in the Lewis sale is fresh, there are some really great things, and the consensus seems to be that the estimates are reasonable\u2026. and more conservative than the May sales,\u201d he told me from New York. Despite Pace Di Donna Schrader (PDS) having a booth at Art Basel in Switzerland last week, Schrader didn\u2019t hang around this side of the Atlantic for the sale. Some of his fellow New Yorkers did jet in, though, including Bill Acquavella of Acquavella Galleries.<\/p>\n

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\"A<\/div>\n<\/div>
Amedeo Modigliani\u2019s Nu assis au collier<\/em> (1917\u201318) sold for \u00a348 million ($63.5 million). <\/span>Courtesy Sotheby\u2019s<\/cite><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

\n\tThe Lewis Collection, amassed by British businessman Joe Lewis and his daughter Vivienne (who was sitting in the front as Sotheby\u2019s), was always going to be salivated over by buyers, whatever the market conditions. Sotheby\u2019s offered four works from the collection in March, spearheaded by a 1972 self-portrait by Francis Bacon, and all four sold well. However, the collection\u2019s sale does reflect current demand, in that it was top notch and built on historically important works with strong provenance.<\/p>\n

\n\tBidding slowed after the first few lots. Edgar Degas\u2019s Petite Danseuse de Quatorze Ans<\/em> (1922) sold bang on high estimate for \u00a325 million ($33.1 million). Kazimir Malevich\u2019s Head of a Peasant<\/em> (1911) sold well for over \u00a33 million ($4 million), topping the high estimate of \u00a32 million ($2.6 million), while Schiele\u2019s Dana\u00eb<\/em> (1909) sold for a few thousand shy of its high estimate of \u00a318 million ($23.6 million).<\/p>\n

\n\tLucian Freud\u2019s iconic painting of Sue Tilley sold mid-estimate for \u00a329.3 million ($38.5 million), before Lot 13, Amedeo Modigliani\u2019s Nu Assis au Collier<\/em> (1917\u201318) was bought for \u00a348.2 million ($63.5 million), making it the top lot of the night. Its high estimate wasn\u2019t listed in the catalog, but a Sotheby\u2019s spokesperson said it was \u201cin excess of \u00a345 million\u201d ($59 million). There were no serious fireworks for the rest of the sale, though Modigliani\u2019s Homme \u00e0 la Pipe (Le Notaire de Nice)<\/em> (1918-19) sold for \u00a323.3 million ($30.7 million).<\/p>\n

\n\tEarlier, Gustav Klimt\u2019s Portrait of Gertrud Loew <\/em>(1902), Lot 16, had injected some late nitro into the sale, selling to an Asian collector for \u00a336.2 million ($47.6 million), against its \u00a330 million ($39.5 million) high estimate.<\/p>\n

\n\tHelena Newman, Sotheby\u2019s chairman of both Europe and Impressionist and modern art, took to the rostrum for the second part of the sale. The pace of bidding was less frantic than the start of the Lewis sale, but Lot 5, Marlow Moss\u2019s 1953 geometric composition White, Yellow and Black<\/em> set a record for the artist, selling for \u00a31.2 million ($1.5 million), more or less double its high estimate. Next came an untitled Rothko work on paper from 1959, which sold a little above estimate for \u00a39 million ($11.9 million).<\/p>\n

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\"An<\/div>\n<\/div>
Claude Monet\u2019s Nymph\u00e9as<\/em> (1907) sold for \u00a340.8 million ($54 million). <\/span>Courtesy Sotheby\u2019s<\/cite><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

\n\tAnd then it was time for the auction\u2019s headliner, Monet\u2019s Nymph\u00e9as<\/em> (1907). Bidding started at \u00a325 million. \u201cIf you look at the Monet Nymph\u00e9as<\/em>, that\u2019s certainly priced to sell. It\u2019s not overblown,\u201d said Elizabeth Gorayeb, Sotheby\u2019s former senior vice president of impressionist and modern art and the current executive director of New York\u2019s Wildenstein Plattner Institute (WPI), which is at work on updating Monet\u2019s catalogue raisonn\u00e9. \u201cGiven how much it sold for the last time it was up, and given how much people are paying for works by Monet, I think the estimate is quite reasonable.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tIt ended up going for \u00a340.8 million ($54 million), right above its high estimate. That figure is about $2 million less than what it last sold, $56.5 million, in 2022 at Christie\u2019s as part of the Anne H. Bass Collection, according to ARTDAI. (Adjusted for inflation, however, $56.5 million would be around $64.7 million in 2026, per the US Bureau of Labor Statistics Inflation Calculator.) Despite this, the result made it the most valuable Impressionist work sold at auction in Europe in over a decade.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cWhat a thrill to have brought a masterpiece of this caliber to London, and to see it pursued so passionately by collectors from around the world, a testament to the enduring desire for masterpieces of Impressionist and modern art,\u201d Newman said.<\/p>\n

\n\tMonet\u2019s other work in the sale, Camille Assise sur la Plage \u00e0 Trouville<\/em> (1870), came from the same consignor. The portrait is the only one from a series of the artist\u2019s first wife left in private hands; one is owned by the National Gallery in London. Gorayeb said it was being offered at auction for the first time \u201cin years and years and years,\u201d after having been \u201csort of dismissed in its early days as a study.\u201d She described it as \u201can exceptional work,\u201d noting that \u201cyou can see the sand that was encrusted in it because Monet painted it from the beach.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tUnfortunately for the house, it passed at around \u00a35 million, despite having last sold for $12.1 million at Christie\u2019s New York in 2018 as part of the Peggy and David Rockefeller, per ARTDAI. \u201cThe little Monet was just not flashy enough,\u201d Gorayeb texted afterward.<\/p>\n

\n\tBy the time Alex Branchyk, Sotheby\u2019s chairman and head of modern and contemporary art, took over from Newman, the crowd in the room had thinned out. The sale felt like it petered out somewhat. The biggest sum achieved in the latter half of the sale was for Banksy\u2019s 2011 Love Is In The Air (life size)<\/em>, which sold for \u00a36.4 million ($8.5 million) Perhaps it was the relentless heat; the mercury was flirting with 28\u00ba Celsius (82\u00baF) at 9:30 p.m.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cIt\u2019s been thrilling to see the works we\u2019ve enjoyed and cherished draw such crowds during the view,\u201d Vivienne Lewis said after the sale of the family collection. \u201cYou know, I wasn\u2019t sure how I\u2019d feel about letting them go, but\u2014slightly to my surprise\u2014even before the sale began, I felt good about it. We\u2019ve always known we were only ever custodians of these works, and in that time we\u2019ve tried to do our best by them, enjoying them ourselves and ensuring that, wherever possible, they were also seen and enjoyed by others. So now it feels less like letting go and more about sending them out into the world, into new homes where they can be cherished and enjoyed all over again.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

[analyse_source url=”https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/art-news\/market\/sothebys-london-june-2026-evening-sale-report-joe-lewis-1234790208\/”]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[analyse_image type=”featured” src=”https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Sothebys-Masterpieces-from-the-Lewis-Collection-and-Contemporary-and-Modern-Art-Evening-Auction-Credit-Rayan-Bamhayan-courtesy-Sothebys-3.jpg?w=1024″] Against the backdrop of British Prime Ministers Keir Starmer\u2019s resignation and London\u2019s hottest-ever June day, a Sotheby\u2019s double-header evening sale on Wednesday offered a rare note of reassurance. A total of 24 museum-quality works from modernist heavyweights hit the auction block from the collection of billionaire investor Joe Lewis, featuring works by […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[61,226],"class_list":["post-2009592","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics","tag-artnews-com","tag-crawlmanager"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2009592","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2009592"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2009592\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2009592"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2009592"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2009592"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}