Masterpieces from the Lewis Collection

Stunning exhibition at Sotheby's in advance of an auction of work from the Lewis Collection .

Born and raised in the East End Joe Lewis is the majority owner of ENIC Group which in turn was the majority owner of Tottenham Hotspur. He is also a prolific collector of figurative art including amazing pieces. This sale highlighted 25 pieces  but other pieces appear in another sale I will be blogging as well. Estimated at £200m this will be the most valuable single-owned collection ever offered at auction in Europe.

I found it a bit hard to tell what was in which sale but using the website I can identify that it includes the wonderful "Sleeping by the Lion Carpet" of Sue Tilley by Lucien Freud, a beautiful Modigliani portrait of a woman, five Picasso's and a stunning Caillebotte of Paul Hugot.

I'll certainly be looking out for results of the sale. I was struck though that this might be the last time we see some of these works in public. Lewis has been a generous lender to exhibitions so here's hoping whoever buys them has a similar outlook.

Closed 23 June 2026



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