Rare Syd Barrett Painting Set To Go Up For Auction
A rare painting by Pink Floyd founder Syd Barrett is set to go up for auction. The auction takes place on 27 May, with the Cheffins Art & Design Sale able to offer a very early art work by the legendary musician and artist.
Syd – originally named Roger – Barrett was fascinated by visual art, and painted throughout his school days. It’s a form he returned to – after he effectively left his musical career behind, her spent the last 30 years of his life in Cambridge, painting quietly before destroying most of the canvases.
The painting going for auction is titled ‘Orange Dahlias in a Vase’, with the watercolour and pastel picture being sold on behalf of the family of Barrett’s school art teacher, Gerald Harden.
Painted in October 1961 when Barrett was just 15 years old, it has an estimated value of around £3000 – £5000.
Philip Harden, Gerald Harden’s son and the current owner of the picture, says “I used to go and visit Roger on a regular basis and I even remember playing cowboys and Indians and watching the first Doctor Who shows with him and Roger Waters back in the 1960s. They both went off to art college and disappeared from my life and the next time I saw them they were Pink Floyd.”
“Roger Barrett was a kind and thoughtful person, with a joyful and almost childlike wit and humour. He was a great fun person to be around in those early days and he was incredibly creative, and would often be seen painting for hours on end. I remember my father bringing this picture back home after Roger had given it to him, it had been put up on the wall in the classroom and my father kept it as part of his portfolio.”
“It has something incredibly special about it and I would recognise it immediately as his style at the time, he was a very gifted artist. We have decided to sell it as it has been in storage for some years now and we feel it is time for someone else to enjoy it. We know that Roger Barrett became a worldwide phenomenon; he stood for so many things in different people’s minds, and we think there must be someone amongst his army of fans who could really treasure it.”
The Cheffins Art & Design Sale takes place on 27 May, starting at 11am.