Female nudes lead the way in London’s summer sales

Sotheby’s has pulled out the stops for its London summer sales, which begin this week but overall the auctions are a low-key affair, continuing a decline in importance. The auctions are also overshadowed by the announcement of a major, single-owner sale later in the year.

On offer this week is a late Picasso, Nu assis dans un fauteuil (1964). His seated nude has a guarantee and is estimated to sell for more than $8m. Also at Sotheby's Tamara de Lempicka’s portrait of her lesbian lover, La Belle Rafaëla (1927), has a $8.12m low estimate, while a typically fleshy nude by Jenny Saville, Juncture (1994), could fetch between $7m and $9.5m.

The three-metre-tall painting of a woman’s back, previously sold for $7.2m in 2019, although the publicity surrounding Saville’s solo show opening at the National Portrait Gallery in London should help boost the monumental painting’s desirability. And on the eve of the June 24 auction, Sotheby's confirmed the painting had secured a guarantee.

Sotheby’s auction, which could total more than $82m, is more than double the combined total estimates of Modern and contemporary auctions at Phillips and Christie’s this week: $13.5m and $10.8m respectively.

Since 2022, London's June auction week has seen a 66% drop, from $487m to $162m last year. This year, the three major auction houses are due to sell an estimated $126m of art, 22% down on 2024.

That would be an improvement on London’s spring auctions, however, which were down 31%, totaling $328m compared to $474m in February 2024.

Phillips combined evening and day sale on June 26 is led by a Jean-Michel Basquiat, which is backed by a guarantee. MP (1984) has a $4.7m low estimate.

Lynette Yiadom Boakye’s painting, 8pm Zaragoza (2011), is the highest-value lot announced by Christie's in its "Post-War to Present" auction, also on June 26. Yiadom Boakye’s work has a low estimate of $677,000. By comparison the artist’s auction record is $13.5m.

If this weeks’ auctions seem to lack lustre, come the fall there should be no shortage of fireworks. In September, Sotheby’s is due to present a single-owner sale of works acquired by the collector Pauline Karpidas, which she hung in her London home. Her Picasso, Warhol, Magritte and Dali among other works could total an estimated $81m.