Francis Bacon's triptych of Lucian Freud. Image courtesy of Imgarcade.

A bleak self-portrait by the postwar British artist Francis Bacon will lead Sotheby’s upcoming Contemporary Art Evening Sale on February 10, 2015, in London. Two Studies for Self-Portrait (1977) is one of only three diptychs painted by Bacon after the death of his partner, George Dyer. Out of the three, it is the only one ever to be offered at auction. The other double self-portraits remain in private collections.

Another Bacon painting, Portrait of George Dyer Talking (1966), dominated last year’s contemporary art auctions in London. Offered by Christie’s, the painting fetched $70 million -- the highest price ever paid at auction for a single panel by the artist. Two Studies for Self-Portrait is expected to bring £13 million to £18 million. The work last sold for £353,500 to its current owner, a British collector, at Sotheby’s Contemporary Art sale in 1993.

Executed in 1977, when Bacon was 68, the dark painting captures the artist’s inner emotional turmoil. Dyer died of a drug and alcohol overdose just two days before Bacon’s monumental 1971 retrospective at the Grand Palais in Paris. Despite their famously tumultuous relationship, Bacon painted portraits of Dyer almost obsessively both before and after his death. Two Studies for Self-Portrait was executed after Dyer’s death, as well as the passing of Bacon’s friend John Minton, his former partner Peter Lacy, and his mother. The work is expected to be the top lot at the upcoming sale.

In addition to the Bacon masterpiece, the sale at Sotheby’s will include works from the Hoglund collection, which was assembled by private collectors in Sweden during the mid-twentieth century. The collection includes works by Lucio Fontana, Robert Rauschenberg, John Chamberlain, James Rosenquist, and Claes Oldenburg -- many of which were acquired from leading gallerists, including Leo Castelli and Ileana Sonnabend, or directly from the artists. Highlights from the Hoglund’s collection will be on view at Sotheby’s New York through Friday, January 23, 2015.