The art and life of Pattie Boyd, the woman in the centre of the love triangle between Eric Clapton and a Beatle, has come up for auction

Pattie Boyd was the girlfriend of two of the great figures in rock music in the 1960s and 1970s — and Christie's are holding a sale of her memorabilia.

The woman who inspired rock’s most famous love triangle is now the subject of a Christie’s sale, which runs until March 22.

A chic Mirror Self-Portrait (estimate £1,000-£1,500). Picture: The Pattie Boyd Collection via Christie’s Images Ltd 2024.

The devotion of model and photographer Pattie Boyd’s husbands — George Harrison, whom she met on the set of A Hard Day’s Night (1964), and Eric Clapton — is evident in the songs they wrote for her, such as The Beatles’s Something (1969).

One of a set of original vintage photographs taken by Boyd during the Beatles historic stay at Maharishi Mahesh Yogi’s ashram in Rishikesh, India, in 1968 (estimate £3,000-£5,000). Picture: The Pattie Boyd Collection via Christie’s Images Ltd 2024.

Meanwhile, Clapton’s Layla (1970) was written in a haze of unrequited love, while Ms Boyd was still married to his friend; Wonderful Tonight (1977) came later, after she had left Harrison to be with him in 1974.

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A love letter from Eric Clapton in 1970 (estimate of £10,000-£15,000). Picture: The Pattie Boyd Collection via Christie’s Images Ltd 2024.

The Pattie Boyd Collections features various letters, handwritten lyrics and photographs, the original artwork, by Frandsen De Schomberg, said to look like Ms Boyd and used for the cover of the 1970 Derek and The Dominos album Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs (£40,000–£60,000) and a design doodle for an Apple Records LP label by Harrison (£3,000–£5,000).

An original design doodle for an Apple Records LP label by George Harrison (est. £3,000-£5,000). Picture: The Pattie Boyd Collection via Christie’s Images Ltd 2024.

All 111 lots are offered online from March 8–22, and will be available for the public to view at Christie’s St James’s HQ on March 15–21. See more details about the lots, and place a bid, at christies.com.


All from Images: The Pattie Boyd Collection via Christie’s Images Ltd 2024.