Picasso's muses and lovers in £15m sale

A painting by Picasso of his secret lover is among nine of the artist's masterpieces expected to fetch a total of about £15m at auction in London next week.

Christie's expectsFemme au Turban, inspired by the socialite Sara Murphy, to raise between £500,000 and £700,000 on Tuesday.

Picasso met Murphy in 1923 when she was married to a wealthy financier. As well as being Picasso's muse, she knew F Scott Fitzgerald and was the inspiration for Nicole Diver, a character in his novel Tender is the Night.

A painting depicting another of Picasso's beloved muses, Marie-Therese Walters, entitled Nu au Collier (Nude with a Necklace), is expected to make £9m. The Spanish artist is said to have seduced Walters, aged 17, after striding up to her in a Paris street in 1927 and declaring: "I am Pablo Picasso – you and I are going to do great things together."

Conor Jordan, a director of Christie's impressionist and modern art department, said: "This picture illustrates the flowering of the relationship. It is a beautiful, lyrical evocation of Marie-Therese and what she meant to him. It is Picasso revelling in female beauty."

Two works on paper of his housekeeper, Ines Sassier, are included in the paintings for sale. Sassier was 16 when she joined the turbulent Picasso household as a chambermaid in 1937. She became the painter's confidante, cherished by his children and accepted by his lovers.

Also included in the sale is the pastel drawing, Bouffon et Jeune Acrobate (Jester and Young Acrobat) which is expected to fetch up to £3.5m.

A Christie's spokeswoman said: "Picasso's muses tend to be the women he was in love with or living with and the inspiration for his painting. He painted many, many women over and over again using them as inspiration."

Picasso was born in October 1881 in Malaga. His father, himself an artist and professor of drawing, recognised the young Picasso's unusual drawing skill at the age of 10. While living in Barcelona in his youth, Picasso used everyday scenes from cafés, streets and the brothels for inspiration.

When he died in 1973 at the age of 92, Picasso had fathered two children with the same woman but had had a string of mistresses. The record price for a Picasso work is the £38.4m paid for Femme aux Bras Croises at auction in New York in November 2000. It is the fifth highest price paid for a work of art.

Picasso's works are among 45 pieces on sale at the Christie's auction of impressionist and modern art.