Christie’s will offer three major works in its 20th/21st Century: London Evening Sale on 15 October, including Lucian Freud’s Self-portrait Fragment. Also in the sale are Woman With A Tulip, estimated at £3 million to £5 million, and Sleeping Head, estimated at £2 million to £3 million. All three pieces come from the same private collection and will be on public display in Christie’s London from 8 to 15 October.

Katharine Arnold, Christie’s Europe vice-chairman and head of post-war and contemporary art, described the group as historic, spanning the 1940s to the 1960s and marking three phases in Freud’s life and career. Self-portraits are rare; Freud is believed to have produced more than 30 over his career. The Self-portrait Fragment shows the artist studying himself as time passes, reflecting changes in appearance and mood. At the time, he was in the midst of a breakup with his wife, Caroline Blackwood.

Woman With A Tulip centres on Lorna Wishart, a member of the Garman sisters who were prominent in Bloomsbury circles. Painted in 1944 during the Second World War, the work is described as being executed with fine sable brushes and depicts Wishart as almost icon-like, with a tulip symbolising affection. Freud met Wishart when he was about 19 and later married Wishart’s niece, Kitty Garman. Sleeping Head portrays a woman Freud knew briefly when he was single and was produced at his Delamere Terrace studio in London. Arnold notes this as a distinctly British story. Two of the paintings were shown in the National Gallery’s 2022–23 retrospective. All three works will be on public view at Christie’s London from 8 to 15 October.