Henri Matisse's Odalisque au fauteuil noir (1942) is valued at £9m-12m ($14.1m-18.8m) ahead of a sale of modern and impressionist art at Sotheby's New York.
The auction will take place on February 3.
 Matisse's Odalisque displays Matisse's unmatched mastery of colour |
The work is drawn from a large number of Odalisque (or harem) paintings that Matisse executed from 1917 onwards.
It's a portrait of the Turkish princess Nezy-Hamide Chawkat, whom he spotted on the streets of Nice in the early 1940s.
Helena Newman, Sotheby's co-head of impressionist & modern art, commented: "Following our highest-ever sale total for our Impressionist & Modern Art Evening Sale in New York, we are delighted to announce a highly desirable highlight of our forthcoming London sale, Henri Matisse's Odalisque au fauteuil noir.
"This exquisitely coloured painting is one of the finest of the artist's celebrated 'Odalisque' paintings to come to the market."
The record for Matisse was set by Les coucous, tapis bleu et rose, which made £28.4m ($44.5m) in a London sale in 2009.
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