A painting of sunflowers by Paul Gauguin (1848-1903) is expected to lead Christie's Impressionist and Modern Art Evening Auction, a sale chock-full of fresh-to-market works from various private collections and a museum, on Feb. 9 in London.

Gauguin painted Nature morte à “L’Espérance” (estimate: £7 million to £10 million) in 1901 while he was living in Tahiti. The work, an ode to his friend Vincent Van Gogh, has been out of the public eye for over two decades, but was previously exhibited widely, including the artist’s first landmark Retrospective at the Grand Palais, Paris, in 1906.

The evening sale offers 46 lots with a total pre-sale value of £54,680,000 to £80,960,000, including works by Claude Monet, Pablo Picasso, Henri Matisse, Georges Braque, Edgar Degas and Fernand Léger, among others.

From the Art Institute of Chicago, four works are coming to the block, led by Nature morte à la guitare (rideaux rouge), 1938, by Georges Braque (1882-1963) (estimate: £3.5 million to £5.5 million). This painting was formerly owned by the celebrated collectors Mr. and Mrs. Albert D. Lasker, the parents of Mrs. Brody whose Pablo Picasso painting, Nude, Green Leaves and Bust, was sold at Christie’s New York in May 2010 for $106.5 million – a world record price for any work of art sold at auction.

Another highlight is Danseuses jupes jaunes (Deux danseuses en jaune), by Edgar Degas (1834-1917), a highly finished pastel depicting the artist's signature subject, the ballet, in an explosive palette (estimate: £3 million to £5 million). This work was acquired by the family of the present owner in 1899.

The four Feb. 9 sales in London, which also include works by Dali and Magritte in Art of the Surreal, may total between £89,117,000 and £130,865,000 ($114-168 million). According to Christie's, this series claims the second highest pre-sale estimate for the firm's Impressionist and Modern Art sales in London.