Earlier this month Sotheby’s announced via Instagram that it will offer one of Peter Doig’s most celebrated artworks, Country-Rock (Wing-Mirror) at its London Contemporary Art Evening auction, taking place on June 30. A highlight of the sale, this is the first time the painting will appear at auction, and Sotheby’s experts estimate it could reach in excess of £9 million – a record for Doig’s work.

Painted in 1999, Country-Rock (Wing Mirror) is part of a series of three Country-Rock paintings, depicting the rainbow tunnel which is a recurring motif in Doig’s work. A much-loved landmark in the artist’s native Canada, the rainbow tunnel mysteriously appeared beside Toronto’s Don Valley Parkway in 1972, and continued to be repainted by an anonymous artist known as ‘the caretaker of dreams’ more than 40 times over two decades as the local authorities tried to remove it. In 1994, the mysterious muralist identified himself as Norwegian Berg Johnson, revealing that he originally created the rainbow aged 16 in memory of a friend who had been killed in a car accident nearby. The mural is now officially recognised as public art.

Doig’s depiction of the rainbow tunnel from the passenger sear of car on the parkway is one of his most well-known and celebrated pieces. Painted long after he relocated to London, it signifies the artist’s fond memories of growing up in Canada. Cheyenne Westphal, co-global head of contemporary art at Sotheby’s, said: “the rainbow tunnel is one of the most prominent and resonant motifs in Doig’s oeuvre. For lovers of Doig, it has a supreme status – akin only perhaps to that of the canoe – and of all the works in which the motif appears, the Country-Rock series is the apogee. Doig is a giant in the current market, and this particular work is fabled. Its appearance at auction represents an all-time first – and hugely exciting – opportunity for collectors.”

To celebrate the painting’s debut sale, Sotheby’s has released an exclusive short film, which beautifully embodies the sense of nostalgia and memory evoked by Country-Rock (Wing-Mirror). A dream-like sequence captures a hazy summertime car journey, while flashes of the rainbow tunnel and the journey itself are cleverly interwoven with details from Doig’s painting so that the watcher can never quite be sure of what is real.

Country-Rock (Wing-Mirror) appears in Sotheby’s Contemporary Art Evening Auction in London on June 30, and is available for public viewing from June 27