Auction for Warhol's Jackson portrait

EAST HAMPTON, N.Y., July 4 (UPI) -- A portrait of Michael Jackson by the late pop artist Andy Warhol is up for auction at a gallery in East Hampton, the summer haven of rich New Yorkers.

Ruth Vered and Janet Lehr, owners of the Vered Gallery, are selling the portrait in a silent auction that ends July 12, the New York Daily News reported Saturday. Vered expects the top bid to be somewhere between $1 million and $10 million.

The 1984 image, done in synthetic polymer, shows Jackson wearing his red uniform from the "Thriller" album. The work measures 30 inches by 26 inches.

"This auction is an unparalleled moment," Lehr told the News. "Warhol in the Hamptons is so important because he's a monumental figure who had a spectacular oceanfront estate in Montauk. So we have the meetings of the world's greatest artists in the fields of art and music."

Lehr said the painting was consigned by a private collector.