Among the subjects seen in the pool are his wife Peggy and son David.
It is one of a sequence of five “Swimming Pool” paintings by Kossoff that marked a significant shift in the artist’s career as he moved from dark, morose works to brighter canvasses depicting people taking pleasure in everyday events. Only one work by the artist fetched more than £1 million before his death in 2019. After the fierce bidding battle for this painting, Sotheby’s head of contemporary art Tom Eddison said: “These five large Swimming Pool paintings made between 1969 and 1972 almost never come to market, and this is considered the strongest of the group.
“The work had never been shown there previously, and every time the swimming pool paintings come up at auction they have broken a record.
“They are Kossoff’s masterpieces.”
Several other paintings from Lewis’s collection were sold on Wednesday, including the Lucian Freud portrait A Young Painter, which fetched more than £7 million after coming to auction for the first time in 50 years.
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Portrait of 'A Young Painter' by Lucian Freud[Missing Credit]
Lewis, 89, had bought it privately from the collection of Charles Saatchi.
Another Freud nude fresh to the market also made more than £7 million, while a Francis Bacon self-portrait was sold for more than £16 million, a third above the estimated price.
The Lewis family art collection is valued at around £750 million and includes works by Klimt, Picasso and Matisse.
Among other owners’ paintings auctioned off on Wednesday was one by Frank Auerbach – who, alongside Freud and Kossoff, was another of the so-called School of London artists. Study for Tree on Primrose Hill sold for £704,000. Imperfect Painting by American-Jewish artist Roy Lichtenstein fetched £2 million. The auction brought in a total of £131 million.
