At 01:00 on June 25, 2026, Sotheby's London "Masterpieces from the Lewis Collection" evening auction commenced as scheduled.This sale featured 25 lots and achieved a total of £296 million.The overall sales rate was 96%, with 72% of the lots selling above their estimated prices and 24% selling within their estimated prices.The sale produced nine lots that sold for over ten million pounds and fifteen lots that sold for over one million pounds.AhMedeo Modigliani's "Nu Assis Au Collier" topped the list with £48,235,000.The only item that failed to sell was Edgar Degas' pastel painting "The Box".

For decades, Joe Lewis has compiled a collection of works by outstanding artists who have changed the course of modern art. They are not connected by artistic movement or chronological order, but rather...They share a fascination with the depiction of the human body.From the unvarnished psychological portrayals of Lucian Freud and Francis Bacon to the powerful portraits of Picasso, Klimt, Schiele, and Modigliani, each work explores the same question in a different way: What does it mean to be human?

These paintings are brought together in one placeIt reveals a profound personal perspective through themes such as portraiture, identity, desire, vulnerability, and power.It traces some of the most important developments in 20th-century art. The final product is not just a series of masterpieces, but a cross-generational dialogue between several generations of artists who used human figures to explore the definition of human experience.

This special sale marks the first large-scale release of the Lewis Collection, featuring 48 masterpieces of modern art (divided into an evening sale and a daytime "Modern Sale," with ArtPro providing live coverage of the entire auction). Due to its scale and artistic value, it is widely regarded as the highest-estimated single private collection auction in European history.

Collector Joe Lewis (born in 1937 in East London) amassed his fortune through entrepreneurship and foreign exchange investments after dropping out of school at a young age. He is not only a financial investor but also a major shareholder behind Premier League giants Tottenham Hotspur Football Club.

Lewis himself was convicted of insider trading by U.S. prosecutors in 2023, pleaded guilty in 2024, and was fined and given probation, but was pardoned by then-President Trump in November 2025. Furthermore, he held a 30% stake in Christie's in the 1990s, and there are rumors that Lewis was the seller of David Hockney's $90.3 million painting, "Portrait of an Artist (Pool with Two Figures)".

His collection is primarily composed of "London School" paintings.Bacon, Freud, and others, stemming from their Jewish background and upbringing in postwar London's East End, deeply resonated with figurative painting's exploration of human identity, desire, and vulnerability.

Its collection consists of museum-quality masterpieces, most of which have not appeared on the market for a long time and have been exhibited in top international art museums on numerous occasions.

It is said that he housed a large number of treasures on the 98-meter-long superyacht "Aviva", turning it into a mobile private museum.

This Sotheby's 2026 sale was one of the few large-scale public releases of the Lewis Collection, and the sales were outstanding, making it a major event in the global art market this year.

New record:
Edgar Degas sets second-highest price record for an artist;
Amedeo Modigliani, Lucian Freud, Egon Schiele, and several other artists set new records for the third-highest prices ever paid for an artist;
 

Top-selling item in this session:

Amedeo/Modigliani's "Nu Assis Au Collier" sold for £41.5 million at hammer price, or £48.235 million including commission.

Top 2 in sales this session:

Gustave Klimt's "Bildnis Gertrud Loew (Gertha Felsőványi) (Portrait Of Gertrud Loew (Gertha Felsőványi))" sold for £31 million at hammer price, reaching £36.16 million with commission.

Top 3 transactions in this session:

Lucian Freud's "Sleeping By The Lion Carpet" sold for £25 million at hammer price, or £29.26 million including commission.

Other items sold at auction:

In addition to the top three most expensive lots, the sale also includes masterpieces by numerous artists, including Edgar Degas, Pablo Picasso, Amedeo Modigliani, Egon Schiele, René Magritte, Gustave Caillebotte, and Francis Bacon.

Stay tuned to ArtPro for the latest updates on the global art market.

For more details on the auction items, please click to view the special session.