On November 12, Christie’s New York will offer Francis Bacon’s Three Studies of Lucian Freud, one of the most iconic paintings by the artist, uniting two of the 20th Century’s greatest figurative painters at the apex of their relationship. This extremely rare triptych, which was exhibited in Bacon’s now renowned retrospective at the Grand Palais, Paris in 1971-72, has never been on the auction market before. The painting is poised to break the previous world auction record for the artist of $86 million achieved in 2008.