PARIS—Next week, Sotheby's will hold its biggest ever sales of Impressionist, modern, and contemporary art in Paris as part of what it's calling Paris Week in an attempt to best the city's leading houses, Christie's and Artcurial, the Telegraph reports.

This fall, Frenchman Guillaume Cerutti  replaced German Philipp von Wurttemberg as head of Sotheby's in France, and has been focusing resources on the French capital. In the past 18 months, Sotheby's has added 10 extra staff to its Paris office and begun to regularly sell Impressionist and contemporary art, the highest earners in the market. In March, it bought the local firm Calmels Cohen

Sotheby's was the first foreign company to hold an auction in Paris after the EU broke the monopoly of state-licensed auctioneers in France in 2001, but Christie's, owned by Frenchman Francois Pinault, gained first place.

The top three houses will sell their strongest modern and contemporary art pieces before the end of the year. Sotheby's, now in third place, estimates it will auction off up to €32 million ($47 million), the most it ever has in Paris. Highlights are a Francis Bacon worth €7.5 to €10 million and the 6-foot-high sculpture Love, Red by Robert Indiana (€700,000 to €900,000), part of the contemporary art sale on December 12, and a Man Ray at the next day's Impressionist and modern art sale.