Sue Tilley, the former benefits supervisor who became Lucian Freud's most celebrated muse, stood before the seven-and-a-half-foot canvas of her own sleeping body at Sotheby's London on May 28, 2026, and described the moment as 'surreal'. The painting, Sleeping by the Lion Carpet, is expected to fetch between £25 million and £35 million when it goes up for auction on June 24, according to a report by the source article. Tilley, now 69, first sat for Freud in the 1990s after meeting him through the performance artist Leigh Bowery, and the resulting portraits have transformed her image into one of the most valuable bodies in contemporary art.

A £25 million – £35 million starting bid for a 1996 Freud

The pre-sale estimate places Sleeping by the Lion Carpet among the highest-valued works by Lucian Freud ever auctioned, the source report says. Completed in 1996, the painting captures Tilley's nude figure in a deep sleep, her weight distributed across a worn armchair against a backdrop of a lion-skin rug. The high estimate—£35 million—underscores how Freud's later portraits of ordinary subjects have become cornerstones of the ultra-luxury art market. The auction will take place at Sotheby's London, with bidding expected to attract both institutional and private collectors.

The $33.6 million precedent that reshaped the market

In 2008, Freud's Benefits Supervisor Sleeping—another portrait of Tilley—sold for $33.6 million, setting a record at the time for a living artist. That piece later entered the collection of Roman Abramovich, the former Chelsea Football Club owner, as the source recounts. The sale demonstrated that Freud's unflinching depictions of non-traditional subjects could command prices comparable to Old Masters. The coming auction will test whether that appetite has grown stronger or begun to cool in a market that has since seen even higher records for other contemporary artists.

What Sue Tilley still finds surreal about her own fame

Tilley told the source that seeing her own nude figure hanging on the auction wall felt like 'looking at a mirror that reflected a past self'. She never imagined her likeness would become a high-priced commodity, yet she embraces the twist of fate. 'I once saw my own legs in the mirror and thought, they look just like the painting,' she said with a laugh. Her recollections of Freud's studio—the organized chaos, the paint-stained brushes used to prepare drinks, the long sittings punctuated by tea and lunch—add a human texture to the financial numbers. The stories Freud shared about cruising London in an open-top Rolls-Royce with Cecil Beaton, Marlene Dietrich, and even Judy Garland, she said,gave the era an extra layer of mythic charm.

Who will buy—and what the sale says about the art market's appetite

The source report does not name any prospective bidders, leaving one of the story's biggest questions open: whether the winning bid will come from a museum, a hedge-fund billionaire, or a sovereign wealth fund.. The previous sale to Abramovich hints at a pattern of ultra-wealthy individuals seeking trophy assets, but institutional buyers have also been active in the Freud market. A related unknown is whether the auction will exceed its high estimate, given the current volatility in global art sales.. The painting's journey from a bohemian London studio to a Sotheby's showroom reflects the broader commodification of portraiture, where the identity of the sitter—once secondary to the artist's reputation—now drives value in its own right.