When LL Bean’s granddaughter, Linda L. Bean, came across a book by Artist Chadds Ford NC WyethLetters from a 1992 antiques show sparked a lifelong fascination with the Wyeth family of artists, resulting in a collection of 20 of their paintings estimated at more than $3 million.

Today, the late Bean’s private collection of Wyeth works, including paintings by Newell Convers (better known as NC), Andrew, Jamie and others – will be auctioned online and in New York on Tuesday by Bonhamsa global network of auction houses headquartered in London.

Among the pieces expected to win the highest bids are Unknown (coastal scene with apple tree in the foreground), an oil painting of Port Clyde, Maine, by NC Wyeth circa 1936, estimated at $1.2 million to $1.8 million, according to Bonhams.

Many of Wyeth’s works in Bean’s collection depict scenes and characters from Maine, where Bean resided his entire life until his death in March at age 82. It was also where the Wyeth family spent their summers beginning in 1920, when NC purchased a house in Port Clyde which he named “Eight bells” based on a famous painting by Winslow Homer.

Bean lived in Port Clyde for the last 17 years of her life, where she operated the “Wyeths by Water” boat tour, the Dip Net restaurant and the town’s general store, above which she established the Maine Wyeth Art Gallery. All three were destroyed in a fire last year along with three original paintings by Jamie Wyeth, an original illustration by NC Wyeth and a trove of books, prints and other memorabilia, according to the Portland Press Herald.

In 2018, Bean founded the NC Wyeth Research Foundation and Reading Librarieswhich includes properties in Port Clyde and Chadds Ford. She was also a former administrator of the Brandywine Conservatory and Art Museum at Chadds Ford, where there is a gallery named after him.

It is unclear how close Bean was to members of the Wyeth family. The patriarch, NC WyethRenowned painter and illustrator who was Bean’s favorite, died in 1945 when his car was hit by a train at the Chadds Ford crossing.

According to the New York TimesBean met Andrew Wyeth, NC’s son and a famous artist in his own right, at least once during a visit to the Wyeth family farm in Chadds Ford. Jamie Wyeth, Andrew’s son who is also a famous painter and portraitist, told the Times Bean had a “big heart” but said (laughing) “his obsession with the Wyeths can be intrusive.”

Other Wyeth works owned by Bean that will be auctioned next week include Self-portrait in top hat and cape, an oil painting by NC Wyeth dating from circa 1927 and valued at $400,000 to $600,000; The Gama 1938 watercolor and graphite work on paper depicting boaters in Maine by Andrew Wyeth, estimated at $100,000 to $150,000; And Dead Cat Museum, Monhegan Islanda 1999 oil portrait by Jamie Wyeth of a boy on Monhegan Island in Maine with a handwritten sign that reads: “Kyle’s Dead Cat Museum.” See 50 Cent Cats, 10 Cent Lemonade. Nintendo (without accessories) $10-20. Mackerel…” The piece is estimated at between $300,000 and $500,000.

Additional works by these artists and other members of the Wyeth family, including Anne Wyeth McCoy and Henriette Wyeth, will be included in the auction and may be found online at Bonhams.com.

In addition to being a family shareholder in the outdoor equipment company founded by her grandfather, Leon Leonwood Bean, and serving on its board of directors for nearly 50 years, Linda Bean has also been in the wholesale lobster business and experienced two failures as Maine’s conservative Republican candidate for the United States House of Representatives.

In 2017, Bean gave $60,000 to Make America Great Again LLC, a PAC supporting former President Donald Trump, which sparked scrutiny because contributions were limited to $5,000 under the law. according to the Hill.