Sotheby’s London Reprices Egon Schiele’s “Danaë” Ahead of June 24 Sale
A Schiele painting that once arrived at auction with a $30 million to $40 million estimate is now headed to London with a markedly lower valuation. Egon Schiele’s “Danaë,” a 1909 work, will be sold at Sotheby’s London on June 24 as part of the Joe Lewis collection, one of the season’s most closely watched single-owner offerings.
The painting’s current estimate is £12 million–£18 million, roughly 60 percent below the figure attached to it when it was consigned to Sotheby’s New York for the house’s Impressionist and modern art sale in May 2017. That sale never materialized: the work was withdrawn just before auction. At the time, some dealers and observers questioned whether the market could support the asking price.
Now the work returns under different conditions, and in a different market climate. The Lewis collection comprises 48 works and is expected to bring in £200 million ($268 million) overall. Sotheby’s has said the trove could become the most expensive single-owner collection ever offered in Europe, a benchmark that would underscore both the scale of the consignment and the appetite for trophy material at the top end of the market.
The broader context is encouraging for Schiele. According to the Artnet Price Database, 22 works by the artist have come to auction so far this year, and 62 percent sold for more than their high estimate. That performance suggests continued demand for the Austrian artist’s compact, psychologically charged canvases, even as individual lots are repriced to meet the market more precisely.
For Sotheby’s, “Danaë” is more than a headline lot. It is a test of how far Schiele’s market can stretch in a sale built around one of Europe’s most significant private collections.
