NEW YORK—After remaining in private hands for 70 years, Edvard Munch's landmark 1894 painting Love and Pain, known as Vampire, will go on sale at Sotheby's New York in November. The work depicts a man being kissed by a vampire and created a scandal when it was first shown in Berlin in 1902. Some believed it was a reference to Munch's visits to prostitutes; others thought it was a fantasy about the death of his favorite sister.

The painting was part of the artist's 20-work series "The Frieze of Life," which included The Scream. It is the most significant of four Vampires that he created between 1893 and 1894 and the only one to remain in private hands.

Sold to regular Munch collector John Anker in 1903, the painting was acquired by a private collection in 1934 and has remained there since. The collection had it on loan to the Metropolitan Museum of Art for more than 10 years.

"There have been past Munch works to be sold in recent times...but this one is a real, knock 'em dead masterpiece," said Simon Shaw, the head of Impressionist and modern art at Sotheby's New York. "Vampire caused a sensation when it was unveiled, touching on...turn-of-the-century fears about women's liberation. Some critics were outraged by its perverse, almost sado-masochistic depiction of passion."

The work is estimated to bring in more than $35 million at Sotheby's, which would beat the current $31 million auction record for a Munch. Vampire will go on view in London from October 3 to 7 and Moscow from October 16 to 19 before being be sold in New York on November 3.