A multimillion-dollar collection of original work by Andy Warhol, featuring famous sports stars such as Muhammad Ali, Pele, OJ Simpson and Chris Evert has been stolen.

The works of art disappeared earlier this month from the Los Angeles home of Richard Weisman (who comes from the famous art-collecting Weisman family).

The pieces were taken from the walls of the house’s dining room, along with a Warhol portrait of Weisman (below).

There was no sign of forced entry and several other valuable paintings were left untouched.

A $1 million reward has been offered by an anonymous donor for the return of the stolen art.

Mr Weisman, who published a book about his art collection called From Picasso to Pop, tried to sell the collection in 2002 for $3 million.

“The theft of Warhol’s ‘Athlete Series’ represents a profoundly personal loss to me and my family,” Mr Weisman said.

Weisman, who was friends with Warhol, commissioned the artist in 1977 to create the 40 inches by 40 inch portraits of sports figures.

A time when Warhol produced hundreds of pieces of work for wealthy patrons able to pay the roughly $25,000 he charged for portraits.

While not considered by collectors to be examples of Warhol’s best painting work, “The Athletes” series is well-known.

According to the Art Loss Register, Andy Warhol is one of its top ten stolen artists. It has 212 missing Warhols in its database.