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The extraordinary career of artist Sue Dunkley is to be celebrated with an auction of her work – some of it recently rediscovered – at her Barnsbury home.

Ms Dunkley, 74, of Liverpool Road, has had a career as a painter spanning five decades, her art coveted by the poet Seamus Heaney, author Salman Rushdie, actor Donald Sutherland and playwright Harold Pinter.

Sadly, however, the artist now suffers from dementia and has recently moved to a nearby care home. This has led her daughter, the playwright Jane Bodie, to set up the exhibition to celebrate her mother’s body of work while also raising money for her ongoing care.

Describing the project as a “labour of love”, Ms Bodie said her mother has always been a dedicated artist with a strict work ethic.

“She was always painting,” she said. “She got up in the morning, had a coffee and got into the studio. She would have the radio blaring, a rollie and a pint of wine.”

A friend of acclaimed abstract painter Howard Hodgkin, Ms Dunkley was the inspiration behind Julie Christie’s character in the film The Railway Station Man.

Her studio in the house in Liverpool Road will remain just as she left it for the exhibition, with her work outfit in one corner, a plate of pastels waiting to be picked up and paint everywhere, including on the chairs she would use to mix paints.

Ms Dunkley and her uncle, the artist Jim Dunkley, have found numerous pieces squirrelled away around the house – often referred to by the artist as her “history house” – including a whole series of Pop Art paintings from 1968 to 1972, which has reportedly created a buzz amongst art dealers.

“There was work I hadn’t seen since I was a baby,” said Ms Bodie said. “Paintings leaning up against an ironing board and behind bikes. It’s a bittersweet thing as it’s only since she moved out that we are finding more and more work. She would have loved, and deserves, a retrospective.”

Friends are travelling from India, Ireland, Australia and all over the UK to see the show and reconnect with Ms Dunkley. Fifty pieces produced between 1968 and 2008 will be presented, with sketchbooks on display.

The pieces can be clearly divided into three periods: an examination of the female body in the 60s; gentle and mournful images of women in domestic settings; and then a move to sombre landscapes.

“As my mum became quite reclusive, her work became less peopled,” said Ms Bodie.

“Her landscapes are forbidding and ominous. It’s almost like two artists. I’m in awe of the fact she brought us up and had the tenacity and dedication to make the work she wanted to make.”

The artist’s daughter, who began hanging her mother’s works around the home last week, added: “It’s all been an extremely emotional process. It’s very weird being in the house without her, but in a way the work is like her being here. I’ve lost my mum in a way but the work and the house has her force.”

Work will be priced from £75 for sketches to £6,000 for bigger pieces. Ms Bodie has taken professional advice on pricing and a gallery has already expressed interest in the Pop Art series. Proceeds from the sale of works sold during the exhibition will go towards Ms Dunkley’s ongoing care.