June 30 (Bloomberg) -- Andrew Lloyd Webber, the impresario and composer best known for ``The Phantom of the Opera'' musical, will sell a Pablo Picasso painting for as much as $60 million in November, Christie's International said.

The 1903 portrait from Picasso's so-called blue period, ``Angel Fernandez de Soto,'' is owned by Lloyd Webber's charitable foundation and he won't personally make any gains from the Nov. 8 sale at Christie's in New York, the auction house said in a statement. The painting shows Picasso's friend seated at a Barcelona cafe table shrouded in tobacco smoke.

Lloyd Webber, who has shown his art collection at London's Royal Academy, paid $29.1 million for the picture 11 years ago, according to the New York Times, which earlier reported the pending sale. To win the consignment, Christie's had to offer the foundation a guaranteed price that may be around $40 million, it said.

Christie's spokeswoman Catherine Manson declined to comment on the size of the guarantee.

Collectors are paying top prices for famous and decorative pictures. In May, Picasso's ``Dora Maar au Chat'' fetched $95.2 million at a New York sale by Sotheby's Holdings Inc.

Lloyd Webber's foundation will decide how to use the proceeds after the November sale, according to the Times.

To contact the reporter on this story: Linda Sandler in London at lsandler@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: June 30, 2006 04:48 EDT