Gustav Klimt – Bildnis Gertrud Loew (Gertha Felsoványi) from 1902
This ethereal portrait by Gustav Klimt from the Lewis Collection – the most valuable single collection ever offered in London – will come under the hammer at Sotheby’s in June. Gertrud Loew was a member of fin-de-siècle Viennese society, later known by her married name Gertha Felsoványi, who was aged 19 when this portrait was painted. It is estimated at £20-£30 million. Assembled over decades by Joe Lewis, former owner of Tottenham Hotspur, and his daughter Vivienne, many of the works in the collection have been exhibited in major museums across the globe. There is art by Egon Schiele, Amadeo Modigliani, Francis Bacon, Gustav Caillebotte, Lucian Freud, Chaim Soutine and Picasso in a collection estimated to make in the region of £150 million.
Born and raised in London’s East End, Joe Lewis felt a natural affinity as a collector with the School of London painters, such as Bacon and Freud, whose work confronted the human condition with an uncompromising intensity. That early passion became the foundation for what is today one of the world’s most important private collections of modern art, shaped by a fascination with the human figure in all its forms. From Klimt, Schiele and Modigliani to Caillebotte, Toulouse-Lautrec, Bacon and Freud, the Lewis Collection captures the radical inventiveness of the leading artists of the 20th century, and includes some of the greatest works of modern figurative painting to remain in private hands.
The June sale follows the 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 a total of £35.8 million,. It also follows last September’s record-setting sale of the Pauline Karpidas collection, which achieved £101 million to become the highest-value single owner sale ever staged in London.
Highlights will be unveiled at Sotheby’s in New York tomorrow. The auctions will be held on the week of June 22 in London.
FRANCIS BACON – TWO STUDIES FOR SELF-PORTRAIT. (£8 – £12 MILLION).
