S ome collections are assembled. Others are lived with. Over decades, Joe Lewis brought together a remarkable group of works by artists who changed the course of modern art, united not by movement or chronology, but by a shared fascination with the human figure. From the unflinching psychological intensity of Lucian Freud and Francis Bacon to the charged portraits of Picasso, Klimt, Schiele, and Modigliani, each work asks a version of the same question: what does it mean to be human?
Many of these paintings have remained out of public view for decades. Seen together, they reveal a deeply personal vision that traces some of the most important artistic developments of the twentieth century through portraiture, identity, desire, vulnerability, and power. The result is not simply a collection of masterpieces, but a conversation across generations of artists who used the figure to explore everything that defines human experience.
Coming to auction this June in Sotheby’s London, Masterpieces from the Lewis Collection is on view in London, 10 – 23 June, with the evening auction taking place on 24 June followed by the day auction on 25 June.
Learn more about the collection by visiting sothebys.com/lewiscollection
