Two Francis Bacon paintings, to be more exact, self-portraits, are to go on public display for the first time. Information on their whereabouts was missing for a long time, so the price for these unique paintings can reach a record high of 15 million pounds for one piece. The existence of the Self-Portrait of 1975 and Three Studies for Self-Portrait created in 1980 was discovered by art lovers through the photos stored in the archives of the Marlborough Fine Art gallery. However, the name of the person, who purchased both paintings immediately after their creation, was unknown. But now Francis Bacon self-portraits have all chances to be seen by the public, as the relatives of the owner have decided to sell the paintings. Thereby, the masterpieces will be on display at Sotheby’s in New York and London before being auctioned in July.
Bacon’s works belong to the paintings of the most expensive artists of postwar and contemporary art. This fact is confirmed by the previous Sotheby’s auction, where Two Studies for Self-Portrait was sold for 14 million pounds. Moreover, Bacon’s triptych of Lucian Freud portraits was sold at auction in 2013 for 142.4 million dollars. This record was broken only this year, when “Women of Algiers (Version O)” by Pablo Picasso went at Christie’s in New York for 179.365 million dollars.