April 11 (Bloomberg) -- A cubist painting by 20th-century French artist Fernand Leger could sell for as much as $45 million at Sotheby's impressionist sale on May 7 in New York.

``Etude pour La Femme en Bleu'' (1912-13) is a concoction of geometric shapes in blue and white with accents of pale yellow, red and black.

The canvas comes from the family collection of German silk manufacturer Hermann Lange, who bought it in the late 1920s from Galerie Neumann-Nierendorf in Berlin, Sotheby's said. Lange died in 1942.

With an estimate range of $35 million to $45 million, the painting will be the top lot of the evening sale, which could tally as much as $284 million.

Leger's record at an auction is $22.4 million for a 1914 painting sold in 2003 at Christie's International in New York.

Two earlier versions of ``La Femme en Bleu'' are in museum collections. The first, a study painted in 1912, belongs to the Musee National Fernand Leger in Biot, France.

The second and largest of the three also dates from 1912. It was included in the Armory Show in New York in 1913 and later bought by Swiss banker Raoul La Roche, who donated it to the Kunstmuseum Basel.

The Sotheby's painting represents a reworking of the 1912 etude in Biot and marks Leger's departure from figuration toward cubism and abstraction.

`Splendid Work'

Leger created his most important works between 1912 and 1919 but they rarely come up for sale, Sotheby's said.

While Leger's annual auction turnover tripled in 2007, reaching $92.3 million, according to the French-based art-market database Artprice, his prices have trailed those by modernist painters such as Pablo Picasso and Henri Matisse.

The Fondation Beyeler, a museum in Basel, is hoping all three works will be loaned for its exhibition, ``Fernand Leger Paris -- New York,'' opening on June 1.

``It's a stunning and splendid work,'' Philippe Buttner, curator of the exhibition, said about the Sotheby's painting.

The foundation wants to exhibit the three paintings with works by American artists influenced by Leger, including Roy Lichtenstein, Ellsworth Kelly, Robert Rauschenberg and Jasper Johns.

``In this case, the three versions will meet for the first time,'' Buttner said.

(Katya Kazakina is a reporter for Bloomberg News. The opinions expressed are her own.)

To contact the reporter of this story: Katya Kazakina in New York at kkazakina@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: April 11, 2008 00:01 EDT