Tiger-print carpets and surrealist paintings have transformed the main exhibition hall at Sotheby’s.

The space is a reconstruction of Pauline Karpidas’ London home, where she displayed a collection that mixed twentieth century masters with bold commissions and design pieces.

Karpidas, who divided her time between London and the Greek island of Hydra, was a philanthropist and a patron of contemporary art.

She ran an artist residency programme, backed experimental work, and filled her apartment with a collection that spanned Picasso and Magritte through to bespoke furniture by Claude Lalanne.

Among the highlights here are Francis Picabia’s Homme et femme au bord de la mer, valued between £800,000 and £1.2 million, and Picasso’s Buste d’homme, estimated at up to £2.5 million.

Her Mattia Bonetti bookcase is paired with Max Ernst’s Loplop présente, while Giorgio de Chirico’s Nudo carries an estimate of £600,000 to £800,000.

George North, Head of Collection Sales at Sotheby’s, says: "In staging this exhibition, we really wanted to bring Pauline's world to life. She lived in quite an extraordinary setting in her home overlooking Hyde Park and really our mission was to bring the collection to life in our galleries and follow really how Pauline herself had had the artworks displayed in her home."

The recreation extends to her bedroom, where Claude Lalanne’s commissioned bed frame, with its owl motif, stands alongside sculptures by Grayson Perry.

Julia Fischel, Impressionist and Modern Art Specialist at Sotheby’s, says: "What is amazing about the Lalanne design in her home is that all of it was specially commissioned by her for the spaces. The bed behind, which is one of the most iconic works in her collection on the design side by Claude Lalanne was commissioned from the Lalanne's in 2012. You can see here that it's this wonderful mixture of organic and surrealist bringing the outside into her home. And the particularly lovely detail of the owl on the bed looking over her whilst she slept, and the owl is seen as being this sort of messenger from the dream world watching her whilst she sleeps."

Pop art also features prominently.

Andy Warhol’s 1984 The Scream, his reinterpretation of Edvard Munch’s famous painting, is expected to fetch between £2 and £3 million.

Surrealist objects are another key theme.

René Magritte’s 1936 Les Menottes de Cuivre is valued up to £500,000, while his La Statue Volante is the most valuable piece in the collection, with an estimate of £9 to £12 million.

George North says it shows the breadth of the sale: "There's a huge range of extraordinary objects in this collection and actually, this is something we often say, there are opportunities for everybody. The most valuable work in the collection, estimated at nine to 12 million pounds, is a work by Magritte, Statue Volante, and it's a very important work by the artist, not only its scale, but its rarity. So that's a real talisman of the sale."

Karpidas’ taste for whimsy is seen in Claude Lalanne’s cabbage-on-chicken-legs Choupatte, estimated at £300,000 to £400,000, displayed on a table by Diego Giacometti.

Elsewhere, Jeff Koons’ Poodle is valued at £1.5 million, while Warhol’s Madonna and Self-Portrait with Skeleton’s Arm is expected to fetch up to £2 million.

The collection brings together surrealist icons, post-war masters and contemporary commissions, all assembled through Karpidas’ personal vision.

The auctions will take place at Sotheby’s London on 17, 18 and 19 September.

AP video shot by Mustakim Hasnath.