The Guardian announces Sotheby’s big lot for February’s Contemporary sale:

Two Studies for Self-Portrait was painted in 1977 when Bacon was 68 and reflects his inner emotional turmoil. Everything bad appears to have been on his mind, including the suicide of his friend John Minton in 1957, the death of his decade-long lover Peter Lacy in 1962 and in 1971, the death of his mother Winnie and the suicide of his lover George Dyer on the eve of probably the most important show of Bacon’s life – a retrospective at the Grand Palais in Paris. […] Bacon only made three self-portrait diptychs in this format and this is the only one to appear at auction. […]

The painting last appeared at auction in 1993 when it was sold by Sotheby’s for £353,500. Today the estimate is £13m-18m, a reflection of the soaring prices for Bacon, and Barker doubts collectors will be put off the work’s bleakness.

Sotheby’s to sell rare double self-portrait by Francis Bacon (The Guardian)