Sotheby's Lewis Collection Sale Shatters European Records at £393 Million

On the evening of June 24, 2026, Sotheby's London hosted what is now the highest-grossing single-owner art sale ever held in Europe. The "Masterpieces from the Lewis Collection" auction, featuring 25 works from the private trove of British billionaire Joe Lewis and his daughter Vivienne, raked in £296.3 million ($392.6 million) — nearly double its pre-sale high estimate . Combined with a subsequent Modern & Contemporary evening sale, the total across both sessions reached approximately £393.4 million ($520.7 million), setting a new record for Sotheby's modern and contemporary sales in London . Here is the verified breakdown of the results, the standout moments, and a few details that remain unconfirmed by the available evidence.

The Record-Breaking Total

The single-owner sale of 25 works from the Lewis Collection fetched £296.3 million ($392.6 million), which Sotheby's confirmed as the highest single-owner sale ever held in Europe . The previous London benchmark was the Pauline Karpidas collection, which achieved £101 million with fees in September 2025 .

The combined evening total — including a separate Modern & Contemporary evening sale that followed the Lewis auction — reached £393.4 million ($520.7 million), a record for any modern and contemporary sale in London . The New York Times reported that the collection was initially expected to fetch around £190 million, meaning the final total more than doubled those initial projections .

The Top Lots

Modigliani's Nu assis au collier (1917) — The undisputed star of the night, this rare female nude sold for $63.91 million (approximately £48.4 million), setting a European auction record for a Modigliani portrait . Estimated at about £45 million ($60.6 million), the painting had not appeared at auction in over 30 years . Joe Lewis originally acquired it in 1995 for $12.4 million at Christie's .

Lucian Freud's Sleeping by the Lion Carpet — Depicting Freud's celebrated model Sue Tilley ("Big Sue"), this monumental work was offered with a pre-sale estimate of £25–35 million . At auction, it sold for £29.26 million ($38.77 million), firmly within its estimate range and marking its first-ever appearance at auction . Sotheby's salesroom erupted in applause when the hammer fell .

100% Sell-Through Rate — All 25 lots in the single-owner evening sale found buyers, a result known as a "white-glove" sale .

Collection Background and Provenance

The Lewis Collection was assembled over decades by Joe Lewis, the 89-year-old British billionaire (net worth reported as approximately $5.8 billion) and former majority owner of Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, together with his daughter Vivienne Lewis . Lewis pleaded guilty to insider trading in January 2024 and was pardoned by U.S. President Donald Trump in November 2025 .

The collection includes works by Gustav Klimt, Egon Schiele, Amedeo Modigliani, Francis Bacon, Lucian Freud, Gustave Caillebotte, Edgar Degas, Chaïm Soutine, and Pablo Picasso, among others .

What's Next: The Day Sale

An additional 25 works from the Lewis Collection were scheduled for a day sale on June 25, 2026, the day after the record-setting evening auction . These lots were part of the 48-work collection originally announced by Sotheby's .

Unconfirmed Details

While the core results above are verified by multiple major news outlets and Sotheby's itself, several specific figures from the initial query could not be independently confirmed from the available source material:

Detail	Status	Source Evidence
Gustav Klimt portrait selling for $47.9 million	Not explicitly confirmed in available snippets	Artnet mentions "major works, including a Klimt" but no hammer price was found ; one news report mentions "a Gustav Klimt" as a notable lot but does not list a price .
Magritte's La Belle promenade exceeding estimates by 429%	No mention found	None of the 53 sources reference Magritte in the context of this sale.
Degas's La Loge as the only unsold lot	Contradicted by available evidence	Multiple sources confirm all 25 lots in the single-owner sale sold . If the Degas work was part of the concurrent Modern & Contemporary sale, its status is unclear.
Joe Lewis net worth exactly £5.8 billion	Reported as $5.8 billion in one source	Billionaires.Africa states a "$5.8 billion fortune" — approximately £4.6 billion at current exchange rates, not £5.8 billion .

Bottom Line

The Lewis Collection evening sale at Sotheby's London was a historic event for the art market. The £296.3 million single-owner total, the £393.4 million combined evening total, the European record for a single-owner sale, the $63.9 million Modigliani top lot, the £29.3 million Lucian Freud debut at auction, the 100% sell-through rate, and the provenance of Joe and Vivienne Lewis are all well-supported by major sources including Sotheby's, The New York Times, BBC, Artnet, and HENI . A few specific lot-level details — particularly those involving Klimt, Magritte, and Degas — could not be independently cross-checked with the available evidence and should be treated with caution.