Sotheby’s unfurled a big flag for the November Evening sale of Contemporary art. Gerhard Richter’s 8 x 13 foot abstract painting from 1987. It caries a $30m estimate:

This monumental, two-panel Abstraktes Bild by Gerhard Richter from 1987 will be a highlight of our November evening auction of Contemporary Art in NY. The work is estimated to sell in the region of $30 million.

Together the panels measure over 102 by 157 inches – of the 18 works from this period in Richter’s career measuring over 100 inches in both height and width, only 5 remain in private hands. This painting has been held in the same private European collection since it was acquired from Galerie Liliane & Michael Durand-Dessert, Paris the year it was executed. The work has not been exhibited publicly for three decades, since its inclusion in the widely-acclaimed Carnegie International exhibition at the Carnegie Institute of Pittsburgh in 1988-1989.