A long-lost Andy Warhol portrait of Blondie singer Debbie Harry from 1985 has resurfaced in rural Delaware and is going up for sale for potential millions. Created on an early home computer during Warhol’s time as a brand ambassador for Commodore, the portrait was part of a promotional event at Lincoln Center. Although Warhol had plans to distribute digital creations on the computer as artworks, he never did, according to the Warhol Museum.
Blondie singer Debbie Harry has mentioned that at least two printed copies of her Warhol portrait exist, with one in her possession and the other hanging in the home of a former Commodore technician. The technician, Jeff Bruette, plans to sell the Harry portrait along with the original Amiga disk holding 10 digital image files signed by Warhol. Offers for hosting an exhibition and selling the collection by leading galleries and auction houses have been made, but Bruette has decided to conduct a private sale.
While the price for the collection remains undisclosed, a series of five NFTs of the Amiga images sold for $3.38 million at Christie’s in 2014. Bruette expressed his excitement at the prospect of showcasing the artwork to the world after nearly 40 years, as well as the opportunity to make retirement more comfortable by selling the collection. The decision to sell comes after years of keeping the portrait and disk, with the hope of finding them the right home.
It is believed that there may be a third print of the Warhol portrait of Debbie Harry out there, but its whereabouts are unknown. Commodore, the tech company that Warhol was associated with during the creation of the portrait, eventually shut down in 1994. The discovery of the long-lost Warhol portrait has sparked interest in the art world, with the possibility of a third copy still out there waiting to be found.
The process of creating the Warhol portrait of Debbie Harry involved an elaborate event at Lincoln Center, where Warhol painted the portrait on an Amiga 1000 home computer as part of a promotional campaign. Andy Warhol’s association with Commodore as a brand ambassador led to the creation of various digital artworks on the computer, including a Campbell’s soup can, flowers, and Botticelli’s “The Birth of Venus.” With this newly discovered portrait now up for sale, collectors and art enthusiasts are eager to see the outcome of the private sale and where the iconic artwork will find its new home.
