Francis Bacon’s portrait of the artist Lucian Freud may set a new record for the painters work, when it goes under the hammer at Christie’s auctioneers, in New York, in November. It is expected to sell in the region of $85m (£53m). Painted in 1969 the three panelled work, known as a triptych,depicts studies of his friend Lucian Freud, the son of Sigmund Freud, the father of psychoanalysis.
Christie’s head of Post-War and Contemporary Art, Francis Outred said the Three Studies of Lucian Freud, completed four years later, was “a true masterpiece and one of the greatest paintings to come up for auction in a current generation”. “It is an undeniable icon of 20th Century art and a painting that Bacon preserved as one of his favourites.” “The work is a very important international painting but it’s also a conversation between two masters who happen to be British. Outred added the first public unveiling of the complete painting in London was “quite a moment”.
A study for the painting titled, Three Studies for a Portrait of Lucian Freud, sold for £23m in 2011. This full scaled artwork will be coming to London for Frieze week and displayed at Christie’s from 13 to 18 October.