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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