A self-portrait by British artist Lucian Freud is expected to sell for millions, with estimates ranging from STG8 million to STG12 million ($A16 million to $A25 million).
The art and luxury auction house Christie's will offer three major works in its 20th/21st Century: London Evening Sale on October 15, including Freud's Self-portrait Fragment.
Among the pieces going up for sale is Woman With A Tulip which is estimated to sell for between STG3 million and STG5 million, and Sleeping Head which is estimated at between STG2 million and STG3 million.
Katharine Arnold, vice-chairman and head of post-war and contemporary art at Christie's Europe, told the PA news agency: "They are historic. They're from the 1940s all the way through to the 1960s and they mark three distinct moments in the artist's life.
"These three paintings together show a transition for Freud, both personally, but also professionally."
Of Self-portrait Fragment, Arnold said: "Self-portraits are rare. Self portraiture was a very important part of Freud's practice. I think he made over 30 self-portraits throughout his career.
"It shows the artist studying himself as time passes. It is literally a reflection of the passage of time, both physically but also in the state of mind the artist is in at that time.
"Here, he's in his 30s, and he's looking forward and thinking about who he's going to be.
"He is in the midst of a break-up with his wife, Caroline Blackwood, at the time, who was a great muse, and so he's thinking about the future."
The paintings come from the same private collection. Self-portrait Fragment has been part of it for nearly six decades.
Freud, whose uncompromising portraits made him one of the world's most revered artists, died in 2011 aged 88.
