Syd Barrett, the late founding member of Pink Floyd, will have many of his household possessions auctioned today in Cambridge.
Barrett, who succumbed to pancreatic cancer in July at the age of 60, lived modestly as a recluse in a £300,000 suburban house in Cambridge for three decades following a gradual mental breakdown, blamed in part on his excessive LSD use.Items that go under the hammer include both the musical and the mundane, with guitars and speakers expected to spark the same kind of interest as football fixtures and a cream armchair, stained at the headrest from years of solid use.
There are few clues that these are the possessions of a man regarded as a musical genius. Several of his paintings are to be sold, though their depictions of local landscapes belie Barrett's status as a pioneer of psychedelic rock. His most recent work, painted six months before he died, is a still life depicting lemons and green bottles standing on a shelf.
The paintings are expected to garner the most interest from Barrett's legion of fans, due to the fact that he would usually destroy the canvas once he completed the work.
Barrett's family have announced that part of the monies raised during the auction will be used for educational development within the art world. Barrett was trained at the Camberwell Art School in London.
