Pictures from the studio of the late Derek Hill are being auctioned during a special session as part of Christie's sixth annual Irish sale in May. The collection is expected to fetch in the region of £200,000 sterling. Hill, who died last July at the age of 83, had made such a significant contribution to this state's cultural life during the previous 45 years that he was given honorary Irish citizenship in 1999.

The works, offered by Christie's in London, come from the artist's own studio in Churchill, Co Donegal where he had kept a home since 1953; the main house - a former rectory he named St Colomb's - was given with its contents to the state by Hill 20 years ago.

Fifty-three of the pictures are by the painter and are fairly evenly divided between portraits - for which he was always well-known - and landscapes, the latter genre being almost his private interest. Among the portraits are an oil of the late Sheridan, Marquess of Dufferin and Ava (£2,000-£3,000) and a charcoal sketch of Daniel O'Donnell (£200-£300). There is also a delightfully whimsical painting of Professor R B McDowell leaving the Rubrics Building in Trinity College Dublin (£2,000-£3,000) and several pictures relating to Hill's long-serving housekeeper in Donegal, Gracie McDermot, including Very Early Morning from Gracie's Cottage (£1,200-£1,800) and Snowdrops in Gracie's Garden (£800-£1,200).

The landscape selection is equally diverse, running from The Pamir, Wapping showing a boat docked on the Thames in east London (£2,000-£3,000) to Small Lake near Lough Salt, Donegal (£1,000-£1,500). In addition, several pictures demonstrate Hill's interest in travel and specifically the many visits he made to Mount Athos, the Greek peninsula occupied exclusively by Orthodox monks, such as Three Monks on Mount Athos (£600-£800).

At the time of his death, Hill's studio also contained a large body of work by other Irish artists, and 75 of these pictures feature in the same sale. The highest estimate - of £20,000-£30,000 - has been given to an oil Coast of Mayo by Jack B Yeats, while a Louis Le Brocquy watercolour, The Liffey near Manor Kilbride 1988 is expected to make £3,000-£5,000.

Finally, a group of 25-plus works in the auction are from the hand of the best-known painter on Donegal's Tory Island, James Dixon who died in 1970. Derek Hill was a great admirer both of the island and its inhabitants, encouraging many of them to paint; he met with a particularly enthusiastic response from Dixon whose portrait of Hill is expected to make £4,000-£6,000. The Derek Hill Studio Collection sale takes place on the afternoon of Thursday, 17th May.