NEW YORK - An Andy Warhol self-portrait hidden in a cupboard for 40 years will reappear at an upcoming auction in New York for more than a million dollars.

The Warhol is one of the stars of Sotheby's contemporary art auction on November 11.

It promises a big payday for the owner, Cathy Naso, who was given the painting by Warhol when she was a receptionist at his Factory studio in 1967.

Sotheby's estimates the work, inscribed "To Cathy," will fetch between one and 1.5 million dollars.

Naso reportedly said she kept the canvas rolled up in a cupboard for 40 years but had decided to sell because "it really belongs to the art world."

"I've treasured it, and I want whoever ends up owning it to treasure it too," she told the New York Times.

The high-end art market saw prices plummet during the worldwide recession, but Sotheby's and Christie's say that their autumn sales point to a modest recovery.

Their New York auctions take place over two weeks starting Tuesday, with Kandinsky, Matisse, Rodin, Mondrian, Picasso, Giacometti and Degas highlighting the first week, and Warhol, de Koonings, Sol Lewitt, David Hockney, Jasper Johns and Bruce Naumann the second.

"The market has adapted very quickly to the situation last year," said Sotheby's contemporary art director Tobias Meyer. "The consigners accept our estimates at a new kind of level. The buyers are there and they still want to buy."