Joe Lewis Collection Sotheby's Auction Breaks Records with $500M in Sales

Sotheby's London raised approximately $500 million in a landmark auction of modern and contemporary art, driven by the sale of the Joe Lewis Collection. The collection alone fetched £296.3 million ($392.6 million), setting a new record for a single-owner collection auctioned in the UK and Europe. The top lot was Amedeo Modigliani's 'Nu assis au collier' (1917), sold for £48.2 million ($63.5 million), from the artist's famous nude series that was shut down by Paris police in 1917 for obscenity. Other highlights included Gustav Klimt's 'Bildnis Gertrud Loew' at £36 million, Lucian Freud's 'Sleeping by the Lion Carpet' at £29 million, Edgar Degas's sculpture 'Petite Danseuse de quatorze ans' at £25 million, and Pablo Picasso's 'Buste de femme' at £24 million. The 48 lots were assembled by Joe Lewis and his daughter Vivienne Lewis over three decades. Notably, the sale proceeded without financial guarantees, allowing the market to set prices. The auction signals renewed confidence in the European art market, which has faced competition from New York, Hong Kong, and Paris.