Original Art Behind Extremely Rare Hungarian 'Star Wars' Posters Are Auctioned Off

The Budapest Poster Gallery held an auction last Sunday that saw the works of Hungarian poster painter Tibor Helényi sold to the highest bidder. Renowned for his unbridled use of color and fantastical style of painting, Helényi gained recognition in the West for his trio of posters painted for the original Star Wars trilogy, which blend the distinctive gaudy aesthetic of late-Communist Eastern Europe with dynamic compositions. Helényi courted controversy at the time with his tenuous portrayals of the characters and his own additions to the posters of make-believe creatures nowhere to be found within the actual movies, leading to accusations that he had never actually seen the films at the time of painting. However, the painter, who passed away last year, said that he had indeed watched them, but consciously diverged from the aesthetic of Star Wars promotional posters in the West to differentiate his own work. Check out the rest of the pieces that went to auction here.