Madonna to auction Leger painting for charity

Madonna is selling a Fernand Leger painting for charity.

The 'Material Girl' singer has decided to auction off the French artist's 'Three Women at the Red Table' work to raise money for educating girls in countries including Afghanistan and Pakistan.

The painting will be sold on May 7 at Sotheby's auction house in New York City and the pop superstar is hoping the abstract piece will raise between $5 million and $7 million.

Madonna has revealed she wants 'to trade something valuable for something invaluable' in countries where female education is lacking. All proceeds will go to the singer's own Ray of Light Foundation.

The 'Material Girl' singer has owned the painting for over 20 years after snapping it up at Sotheby's in 1990.

The 54-year-old star has been making headlines for her charitable actions recently. She took her adoptive children, David, seven, and eight-year-old Mercy, to an orphanage in the district of Mchinji in Malawi, south-east Africa, where David was raised before she gave him a home in 2006.

Madonna also publicly called for the Boy Scouts of America to scrap their policy to not allow openly gay scouts and leaders last month during a speech at the GLAAD Media Awards.

She ranted: 'I don't know about you, but I can't take this s**t anymore. That is why I want to start a revolution. It's 2013 people.

'We live in America, land of the free and home of the brave? That's a question, not a statement.'