Christie's eyes record with Lucian Freud picture

LONDON (Reuters) - Christie's will sell a major work by British painter Lucian Freud in New York in May which the company expects to become the most expensive work sold at auction by a living artist.

"Benefits Supervisor Sleeping", painted in 1995, is a life-size depiction of rotund London benefits supervisor Sue Tilley lying naked and asleep on a dilapidated sofa.

The company estimates the painting will make between $25 and $35 million, exceeding the current auction record for a living artist -- $23.6 million paid for Jeff Koons's "Hanging Heart (Magenta/Gold)" in New York in November.

"Appearing at auction for the first time, this work has been featured in a number of the major Freud exhibitions and is expected to set a new world auction record for a work by any living artist," said Pilar Ordovas, head of post-war and contemporary art at Christie's in London.

The painting will be offered at the New York post-war and contemporary art auction on May 13 and goes on public view at an exhibition at Christie's in London on April 11, 14 and 15.

Tilley was introduced to Freud by Australian performance artist Leigh Bowery, himself the subject of several large Freud canvases.

"Freud had greatly welcomed the new possibilities that the bulk of Bowery's own imposing figure had offered him and it was this that had prompted Bowery to think of his friend, 'Big Sue'," Christie's said.

The auctioneer calls the 1995 painting an example of Freud's preoccupation with "the forceful and undeniable physical presence of people and things."

The current auction record for a painting by Freud, aged 85, is $19.4 million set in November 2007.

While auction records are relatively easy to track, works of art bought and sold privately are more difficult to monitor.

British artist Damien Hirst sold a diamond-encrusted skull for $100 million last year, which would make it the highest known price for a work of art by a living artist.

But the fact that Hirst was part of the group of investors who bought it has raised questions about its true value.

The highest known price for a painting by a living artist is $80 million paid for a work by Jasper Johns in a private deal.

(Editing by Paul Casciato)