T his summer in London, alongside our various-owner auctions, Sotheby’s will stage a landmark exhibition and sale of masterpieces from the renowned Lewis Collection. Assembled over decades by Joe Lewis and his daughter Vivienne, many of the works in the collection have been exhibited in major museums across the globe – a testament to their exceptional art historical significance – and many have not been seen on the open market for decades, if at all.

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, 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 latest masterpiece to be unveiled is Lucian Freud’s Sleeping by the Lion Carpet – a defining work in his career and the final and most ambitious in the artist’s celebrated quartet of monumental portraits of ‘benefits supervisor’ Sue Tilley.

Further major works from the Lewis Collection will be announced shortly.