John Lennon’s “Psychedelic Eye” mosaic from his Kenwood Home is headed to auction.
John Lennon and Joseph Ritrovato, the “Psychedelic Eye” mosaic, c. 1965. Photo by Claire Carroll Photography. Courtesy of Bonhams
John Lennon’s Psychedelic Eye mosaic, designed by the Beatle and commissioned for his swimming pool in 1965, will head to auction at Bonhams’s Rock, Pop & Film sale on November 29th. Crafted from roughly 17,000 tiles by master tiler Joseph Ritrovato, the artwork originally adorned the deep end of the pool at his Kenwood residence in England. The work has a high six-figure estimate and marks a Beatles memorabilia milestone at auction.
Removed in the mid-1980s, the mosaic was displayed at the International Garden Festival and the Museum of Liverpool Life. The piece was notably included in the “You Say You Want a Revolution” exhibition at the Victoria and Albert Museum in 2016.
“It’s said Lennon would spend idle hours near the swimming pool and that the mosaic could even be seen from his favored ‘sunroom’ at the top of the house,” said Claire Tole-Moir, Bonhams head of popular culture in London. “With Kenwood still under private ownership, it is very rare to see anything from when John Lennon lived there, making the ‘Psychedelic Eye’ mosaic an incredibly important artifact of Beatles history.”
Aside from the mosaic, the sale also highlights memorabilia from the collection of Hilary Gerrard, Ringo Starr’s former business manager, including a Lennon-drawn portrait, estimated at £6,000–£8,000 ($7,800–$10,400).