Traditionally, end-of-year auctions have tended to be the least spectacular of the season, but in a year as topsy-turvy as 2020, great paintings keep rolling in. Menzies Art Brands has just consigned a Brett Whiteley painting with a $5 million to $7 million price tag, positioning it as potentially the highest value Australian artwork to come to auction.

Menzies holds the record on that front, having sold Sidney Nolan’s First-class Marksman to the Art Gallery of New South Wales for $5.4 million (including buyer’s premium) in 2010. The company is hoping to supersede that result. In a year of pent-up demand and volatile markets, with investors parking their cash in art and other collectibles, anything is possible. But it will take a special painting to outclass the marksman. Menzies’ head of art, Justin Turner, is confident that Whiteley’s Henri’s Armchair is the one.