Presley portrait to get market all shook up

Basquiat, Picasso, Monet, Rothko, Giacometti: half a billion dollars of 20th century art is hanging at Sotheby’s and Christie’s in London this week, waiting to travel to New

York for next month’s sales.

Carrying the highest price tag of around $70 million (£50 million) is a polished bronze of the American heiress Nancy Cunard by Constantin Brancusi, dating from the Thirties. A portrait of Elvis Presley, meanwhile, will test the Warhol market. Valued at $30million, it was bought six years ago for slightly more than that.

Also on view is a large figure painting by Francis Bacon from 1977 estimated at $30million. Study for a Portrait is thought to refer to the artist’s lover, George Dyer, who had died six years earlier. After a long period producing dark paintings, Bacon had begun using a lighter palette, imagining Dyer’s reincarnation. It is being sold by the Monaco-based collector with whom Bacon would stay when in the mood to satisfy his appetite for gambling.