Renoir Work to Be Auctioned by Sotheby’s : Art: One of the best-known paintings by the French Impressionist is expected to sell for more than $40 million, easily shattering the artist’s record of $17 million.

“Au Moulin de la Galette,” a renowned painting by French Impressionist Pierre Auguste Renoir, will be auctioned at Sotheby’s New York on May 16. The auction house expects the 1876 canvas to bring between $40 million and $50 million.

If the sale meets Sotheby’s expectations, it will easily break the artist’s record of $17.68 million, set last April by the J. Paul Getty Museum’s purchase of Renoir’s “La Promenade.”

“Au Moulin de la Galette” has been been in the collection of John Hay Whitney, a New York businessman and philanthropist, for 60 years. The painting is to be sold “for estate tax-planning purposes,” according to the auction house.

The convivial crowd scene in “Au Moulin de la Galette” is among Renoir’s best known and loved images. Painted at an open-air dance hall in Montmarte, the picture captures the warmth of summer and the contentment of well-fed people at leisure. As a study of light, shadow and movement, the shimmering scene of dancing, drinking and socializing exudes the essence of French Impressionism.

“It’s the quintessential Impressionist painting,” said David Nash, Sotheby’s senior vice president and director of fine arts in New York.

Renoir painted at least two versions of the bustling outdoor dance hall. A larger version is in the collection of the Louvre in Paris and on view at the Musee d’Orsay. The Whitney painting, measuring 31x44 1/2 inches, is thought to have been painted first, at the dance hall, while the Louvre canvas was done later in the artist’s studio.

The May 16 auction is likely to be closely watched by auction house critics who have predicted that the overheated art market will level off if not cool down. Sotheby’s sale last November of Pablo Picasso’s “Au Lapin Agile” for $40.7 million, instead the estimated $50 million or more, appeared to sound a note of caution. But Sotheby’s and Christie’s sales have been extremely strong during the last few years. Sotheby’s 1989 sales were up 62% from 1988, and Christie’s has reported an increase of 49% during the same period.

Japanese collectors and dealers have been major buyers of Renoir’s work in the past few years, and they are expected to turn out in full force for the sale of “Au Moulin de la Galette.” The Getty declined to comment on the sale or whether the museum will bid on the painting.

Whitney, who died in 1982, founded the venture capital firm of J. H. Whitney & Co. and was publisher of the New York Herald Tribune. He supported major art institutions, serving as president, chairman and trustee of the Museum of Modern Art in Manhattan.