Christie's London is preparing to unveil Monsoon: The Peter Simon Collection, a major single-owner sale estimated at £87 million to £127 million. Scheduled for October 14 and 15 during Frieze Week, the auction brings together nearly 200 works across an evening sale, a day sale, and an online session.
The collection reflects decades of focused collecting by British entrepreneur Peter Simon, founder of Monsoon and Accessorize. His eye for color, pattern, and composition was shaped early by fashion and textile design, later evolving into a broad artistic vision that connects different creative worlds.
Among the standout works are Francis Bacon's Figure in Movement (1978), estimated at £14 million to £18 million, and Study for a Figure from around 1945. Piet Mondrian's Composition A, with Double Line and Yellow (1935) is expected to attract strong interest, while Joan Miró's Peinture (Les amants - Adam et Eve) adds another key highlight.
The sale also features names such as Ben Nicholson, Barbara Hepworth, Pablo Picasso, Frank Auerbach, Leon Kossoff, Fernand Léger, Willem de Kooning, Jeff Koons, and Andy Warhol. Warhol's Diamond Dust Shoe offers a vivid example of the artist's dialogue between fine art and commercial culture.
Christie's describes the collection as one of the most ambitious ever offered in London by a single owner, underscoring how private collecting can shape the public art conversation. Looking ahead, sales of this scale may continue to redefine how major collections move between personal vision and global cultural value.
