Study of Red Pope has not been seen in public for 45 years and is expected to carry an estimate of £60-80m. It has been in the hands of a private European collector since 1973.
This work is described as the final piece in Bacon’s Papal portraits and is the only painting that unites the Pope with Bacon’s greatest love George Dyer, who is depicted as the Pope’s reflection.
First exhibited on October 26, 1971, in the retrospective of Bacon’s work at the Grand Palais in Paris, it was painted six months before Dyer would commit suicide on the eve of this major retrospective.
Francis Outred, Christie’s chairman and head of post-war and contemporary art in Europe, Middle East, Russia and India, said: “If Bacon's oeuvre was shaped by his devotion to George Dyer and the aftermath of his death provided his darkest and most celebrated triptychs, then this painting represents the ultimate landmark. It is a tragic premonition which unites Bacon's two greatest muses, the Pope and George Dyer, for the first and only time.”
Acquired by the family of the present owner in 1973, this work has appeared in all the major publications dedicated to Bacon’s work but never exhibited publicly.
Francis Bacon’s oil on canvas ‘Head with Raised Arm’ 2ft x 20in (61 x 50.5cm) from 1955 will be offered at Christie’s post-war and contemporary art evening auction on October 6 with an estimate of £7m-10m.
Head with Raised Arm (1955) was last exhibited in 1962 at the Galleria Civica d’Arte Moderna in Turin. It was bought by the current (unnamed) owner the following year, and has not been on public view since. Its location was listed as ‘unknown’ in the most recent version of Bacon’s catalogue raisonné published last year by Martin Harrison.
Both paintings will be offered in Christie’s post-war and contemporary art evening auction on October 6.
Elsewhere, Christie’s New York said it will offer Pablo Picasso’s Femme accroupie (Jacqueline), 1954, with an estimate of $20m-30m on November 13.
