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The July 1 and 2 sale will be headlined by Bacon’s “Study for
a Pope I” estimated at 25 to 35 million pounds and include two
of the Irish-born British artist's rediscovered self-portraits.
The Warhol works will be among 21 paintings inspired by the U.S.
dollar, including the most important dollar-themed works by the
American pop artist in private hands, Sotheby's said.
Bacon’s "Study for a Pope" was painted in 1961, inspired by
17th-century Spanish artist Diego Velázquez’s “Portrait of
Innocent X”. It had previously sold at auction in 2005 for $10
million, which was the record price for any work by the artist
at the time.
The work expected to fetch the most from the dollar-inspired
paintings is Warhol's "One Dollar Bill (Silver Certificate)"
from 1962, the only one of the series he painted entirely by
hand, which has a pre-sale estimate of 13 to 18 million pounds.
The dollar collection also features works by Keith Haring,
Joseph Beuys, Tim Noble and Sue Webster.
“The dollar is more than just an American currency, it's a
symbol of so many things - aspiration, wealth, glamor - and I
think (Warhol) was brilliant at pinpointing a trigger which
everyone can draw to," Sotheby’s Contemporary Art specialist
James Sevier said.
He told Reuters Television that Warhol painted the $1 and $2
bills rather than the $50 or $100 "because it was about
accessibility, like the Campbell's Soup Cans", referring to
another of Warhol's most famous series.
Sotheby's said in a statement: "(The auction) is poised to be
the most valuable sale of its kind ever held in London."
(Reporting by Antonio Sorgi, editing by Stephen Addison, Michael
Roddy and Dominic Evans)
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