The famous “Marilyn Monroe” by Andy Warhol represents one of the best-known and most significant results of his research on the reproducibility of the image. Starting in 1962, immediately after the actress’s death, Warhol used a promotional photograph from the film Niagara as the source for a series of silkscreens destined to become iconic. In this work, in fact, the image of the face is isolated, enlarged and subjected to intense chromatic variations, which alter its natural perception.
Through silkscreen, a mechanical and serial technique, the artist eliminates any traditional expressive intent. However, precisely this repetition introduces a critical reflection on mass culture. Moreover, the choice of flat and contrasting colours transforms the face into a graphic sign, almost a logo. Consequently, Marilyn no longer appears as a person, but as a media icon, a visual product of consumer society.
The artist, a central figure of American Pop Art, in fact investigated throughout his career the relationship between art, advertising and celebrity. Therefore, this work does not simply celebrate the Hollywood myth, but highlights its artificial construction. At the same time, the fixed gaze and the absence of psychological depth accentuate an ambiguous dimension, suspended between glamour and fragility.
In conclusion, “Marilyn Monroe” directly synthesizes Andy Warhol’s language: seriality, surface, consumption of the image. And precisely for this reason it remains one of the most recognizable symbols of art of the second half of the twentieth century.
Description: Colour silkscreen, bearing on the reverse double Andy Warhol signature and edition number 035/250, H cm 91.4×91.4.
Hammer Price: € 33.480,00
Auction 36 – 25 February 2020 – Modern and Contemporary Art
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