A historic painting that Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt bought during their marriage is expected to fetch between US$2.1 million to US$3.4 million at auction next month.

Christie’s will sell the landscape, painted by then British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, as part of a modern British art event on March 1. Amateur painter Churchill gave the piece, called Tower of the Koutoubia Mosque, to U.S. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt as a souvenir of their time together attending the Casablanca Conference, then visiting nearby Marrakech, in January 1943. It was there that the two world leaders discussed their plan to defeat the Nazis in World War II. Churchill painted an estimated 500 paintings, but this is the only one he did during the war years.

After Roosevelt died in 1945, the painting was sold by the president’s son and changed hands several times before Pitt and Jolie scooped it up in 2011. The A-listers split in 2016, and the work is now part of the Jolie Family Collection, which is offering it.

Nick Orchard, who oversees modern British art at Christie’s, said the piece is “probably [Churchill’s] most important work.” And that’s before adding in the Brangelina factor.

Since Pitt and Jolie’s breakup in 2016, they’ve battled in court over the division of their assets, which include some incredible works of art. The two were officially declared single again in 2019, but they continue to hash out the details of their divorce.

(SD-Agencies)