This May, Jean-Michel Basquiat's monumental homage to jazz, titled Now's the Time (1985), will be auctioned for the first time in 40 years. The painting, which is expected to fetch at least $30 million, has been in the collection of Peter Brant and is one of the most stylistically uncharacteristic entries in Basquiat's oeuvre.

Now's the Time is a seven-foot-wide recreation of the vinyl pressing of the legendary saxophonist Charlie Parker's 1945 recording of the same name. Basquiat was an avid jazz listener and album collector, and he left his ego at the doorstep when creating the painting, making a matte black disc with only a few white inscriptions. Gregoire Billault, Sotheby's chairman of contemporary art, said that the painting is "visually striking" and that Basquiat marked it as his own with his signature copyright sign.

Although this painting is expected to fetch a high price, it is not the most expensive Basquiat painting headed to auction this season, as Christie's is set to sell a work belonging to fashion designer Valentino Garavani for more than $45 million.