Paul sells signed Beatles photos starting at €12,000

When he began to taste the enduring fame of musical history, Paul McCartney roamed with his camera through the intimate spaces shared with the other three Beatles. Now, 36 of these photographs have been retrieved by the musician from his personal archive and are being sold as signed and catalogued artworks. Photographs like 'Self-portrait in a mirror at Hotel George V (Paris)' or 'By the Pollaks' pool' were captured by McCartney between the last days of 1963 and the first two months of 1964, in aesthetic exercises similar to today's 'selfies', but on black and white film and color slides.

At the Gagosian gallery in Beverly Hills, California, USA, they start at a price of around €12,000 with no upper limit. Organisers suggest they could reach "five figures", according to Bloomberg. The legendary Beatles bassist, who recently visited Spain as part of his world tour and is in great shape at 82, will donate a portion of the proceeds to those affected by the fires that ravaged the Californian area a few weeks ago.

The copies exhibited and silently auctioned were processed with digital techniques from the original negatives, physical copies, and even contact sheets, to enhance the resolution and quality, colours, and permanence of the final piece. Although there are 36 images, several copies of each will be made, "small editions", assured the gallery, without providing details on the number or sizes decided for each photograph.

"Evoking a key interval in 20th-century cultural history, the photographs embody a poignant intersection of time, place, and personality," promotes Gagosian. "Together, they form a significant contribution to the visual record of the era, not only for their unique perspective but also because they demonstrate McCartney's natural talent as a photographer." Additionally, several of the works for sale will be exhibited at the Young Museum in San Francisco, although they have already been seen, first at the 'Paul McCartney, Photographs. In the Eye of the Storm' exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery in London, and then in other museums across North America and Japan. However, the public had not been able to bid on the works.

In the face of nostalgia, McCartney considers the photos capture "a kind of innocence", he maintained in statements collected by Smithsonian, when the London exhibition opened. "They bring a flood of special memories, so many stories, that will always set my imagination in motion. I love them."

During the photographed days, the group travelled to New York, Washington, and Miami (USA), Paris (France), and London and Liverpool (UK). There is, of course, a snapshot that seems like a frame from one of their films, titled 'Being chased by fans on West 58th Street', in the New York winter. Less than a year had passed since the Beatles released their first album, 'Please, Please Me', and their songs 'Love Me Do' and 'Twist and Shout' reached number one. A month before the first shots, their second LP, 'With the Beatles', had been released, and they were beginning to win over the American public. McCartney compared his rediscovered photos to a "family treasure".