David Hockney's With Conversation (1988) is the headline lot of Christie's Post War and Contemporary Art sale in London on July 2.
The large-scale work was executed the year after he returned to painting following a period spent experimenting with photography during the 1980s.
 David Hockney's With Conversation (1988) was executed shortly after his return to painting |
Hockney is one of the greatest living British artists, his work regularly achieving seven figure sums at auction. With Conversation is expected to make £500,000-£700,000 ($848,500-$1.1m).
In February last year, his Great Pyramid at Giza with Broken Head from Thebes sold for £3.5m ($5.5m) at Christie's London. His record stands at $7.9m, set for a work titled Beverly Hills Housewife at Christie's New York in 2009.
Roy Lichtenstein's Water Lilies with Willow (1992), numbered one of an edition of 23, is valued at £280,000-350,000 ($475,160-593,950).
The screen printed enamel lot is a wry take on Monet's Nympheas series, executed in the artist's inimitable style.
He is quoted in M Kimmelman's book PORTRAITS as saying: "When I did paintings based on Monet's I realised everyone would think that Monet was someone I could never do because his work has no outlines and it's so impressionistic.
"It's laden with incredible nuance and a sense of the different times of day and it's just completely different from my art. So, I don't know, I smiled at the idea of making a mechanical Monet".
On June 23, a Nympheas painting by Monet will auction at Sotheby's London with a £30m ($50.4m) estimate. We have this handwritten letter available.
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