Warhol's Farrah Fawcett, bequeathed to the University of  Texas in 2010, is at the Blanton Museum of Art.

Today in the LA Times, David Ng reports in "Farrah Fawcett portrait by Andy Warhol at center of legal battle" on the beginning of the trial in Los Angeles between Ryan O'Neal and the University of Texas regarding the disputed ownership of Warhol's portrait of the 1970s sex symbol Farrah Fawcett who died in 2009. The trial in Los Angeles Superior Court is expected to last two weeks, Ng writes.

The parties are set to square off Wednesday in Los Angeles Superior Court. At the time of her death in 2009, Fawcett bequeathed art that she owned to the University of Texas at Austin, which she attended before hitting it big in Hollywood. 

The university had reportedly received one Warhol portrait of Fawcett, but O'Neal is in possession of another that is virtually identical. The "Barry Lyndon" actor is claiming that the portrait he has is rightfully his and that Warhol gave it to him. 

O'Neal and Fawcett never married but they were in a long-term, on-and-off relationship. They have a son, Redmond O'Neal. 

The University of Texas is claiming that Fawcett left all of her artwork to the university and that the portrait in O'Neal's possession should be transferred to the school. O'Neal has countersued the university, saying that a sketch created by Warhol wrongly ended up at the Blanton Museum of Art on the Austin campus.

At one time, the Warhol portrait of Ms. Fawcett was considered missing until it was found during an airing of Ryan O'Neal's reality television show in 2011.

Peter Sheridan reporting for Britain's Express discusses the revelations the fight over the paintings has revealed about the actress' relationship with Ryan O'Neal.

A Warhol portrait of Fawcett is on display at the Blanton Museum of Art at The University of Texas at Austin.
  

by René M. Du Terroil, ARCA Blog Contributor

Update: ARTINFO.com has a column on the Andy Warhold Farrah Fawcett shown on O'Neal's reality television show.

A well-known portrait of Farrah Fawcett by Andy Warhol may have been found at the home of the late actress' longtime boyfriend, actor Ryan O'Neal. The photograph, which Fawcett had willed to the University of Texas, had been missing since her death in 2009. Investigators and friends noticed what appears to be the image hanging above O'Neal's bed in his new show Ryan & Tatum: The O'Neals. O'Neal, who was not named in Fawcett's will, is alleged to have been attempting to control the actress' estate, but insists there was no wrongdoing on his part. For more intrigue, watch the full story in the video below: