Known for his long and passionate personal life as well as his prodigious output, Pablo Picasso has proved to be the most bankable of artists over the past 20 years, Reuters reported.

At its spring sale of Impressionist and Modern Art on May 1 Christie's is featuring a virtual gallery of the women who figured in the Spanish artist's long life, from Marie-Therese Walter to Jacqueline Roque.

Together the six works, being sold by various owners and spanning four decades from 1932 to 1968, are expected to fetch about $30 million and could help gauge the mid-level of the market for works by the artist.

Leading the offerings is "Deux nus couchés," a 1968 portrait of Jacqueline Roque, Picasso's second wife, which is estimated to sell for $8 million to $10 million. Christie's said it has generated great interest.

Picasso and Roque were married for 20 years until his death at 91 in 1973. She was the subject of hundreds of portraits.

Also on offer are works featuring Francoise Gilot, with whom Picasso had two children, Claude and Paloma, and his mistress Dora Maar and Walter who is captured in "Le Repos," a 1932 work estimated to fetch $5 million to $7 million.

Christie's has high hopes for the works. In the past 15 years pieces featuring Walter or Dora Maar achieved some of the highest prices for any art at auction at the time.

Both Walter and Roque committed suicide in the years after Picasso's death.