Matisse-inspired Brett Whiteley masterpiece up for auction Art entrepeneur Rod Menzies takes in the large Brett Whiteley painting painted in 1976. A BRETT Whiteley masterpiece hidden from public view for almost 40 years is to be put up for auction next month. My Armchair is expected to break the record for a Whiteley painting. Art entrepreneur Rod Menzies believes the painting will sell for $3 million to $4 million. My Armchair is massive - it measures 206cm x 284cm - and was bought by a Melbourne couple at an exhibition at Australian Galleries soon after it was painted in 1976. A doorway had to be widened to get it into the owners" home. The painting's frame had to be removed to get it out. My Armchair was painted in Whiteley's house overlooking Sydney's Lavender Bay, and is one of three paintings influenced by French painter Henri Matisse. Henri's Armchair is another in the series, owned by a Sydney barrister. Self Portrait in the Studio, with the same Matisse armchair, winning the Archibald Prize in 1976. All were painted in the same year in a peaceful departure for Whiteley from his Christie series - on the London murderer John Christie - and his drug and sex-washed Alchemey. The record price for the artist, who died of a drug overdose in 1992, was $3.5 million for Blue Naked Studio, bought privately by David Walsh for MONA in Hobart, where it now hangs. The auction record for Whiteley, who is still widely regarded as the most exciting Australian artist, is $3.48 million for The Olgas for Ernest Giles, sold by Menzies. My Armchair, which will be auctioned in Melbourne on October 31, will be seen at previews at Stonnington Mansion. The painting looks as if it might have been painted yesterday; the paint looks almost wet and the canvas is supple after years away from the sun in a private home. The sale is likely to attract international interest. One of the Australian bidders will be John Symond, the Aussie Home Loans millionaire collector, whose Sydney harbourside mansion has Whiteley's paintings in most rooms.