Christie’s is going back to the well on Francis Bacon with this single portrait of Lucian Freud that will be a featured lot in the July 1 sale in London:
One of only two single portrait heads of Lucian Freud ever to be painted by Francis Bacon, Study for Head of Lucian Freud (1967) has spent all of its life within the private collection of the celebrated writer Roald Dahl and the Dahl family. This canvas, which will be offered at Christie’s Post-War and Contemporary Art Evening Sale on 1 July 2014, was bought by Roald in 1967 for only £2,850 with proceeds from the previous year’s first British publication of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.
As Francis Outred, Christie’s Head of Post-War & Contemporary Art, Europe, says: “Following on from Christie’s success in making a world record for Bacon’s The Three Studies of Lucian Freud, 1969, which sold in November 2013 for $142.4 million, the highest price ever paid at auction for a work of art, Study for Head of Lucian Freud connects three titans of the arts from the 20th century, and draws together Bacon, Freud and Dahl at the height of their artistic powers.”
