Artist: Andy Warhol

This series of silkscreen prints of Marilyn Monroe was taken from her image in the film, Niagara and reproduced first in color, and then in black and white. They were made in the months after her death in 1962 by Warhol who was fascinated by both the cult of celebrity and by death itself; this series fused the artist's interests. The color contrasted against the monochrome that fades out to the right is suggestive of life and death, while the repetition of images echoes Marilyn's ubiquitous presence in the media.



This work can be conceived of as postmodern in many senses: its overt reference to popular culture (and low art) challenges the purity of the modernist aesthetic, its repetitive element is an homage to mass production, and its ironic play on the concept of authenticity undermines the authority of the artist. The use of a diptych format, which was common in Christian altarpieces in the Renaissance period, draws attention to the American worship of both celebrities and images. All of these translate into an artwork that challenges traditional demarcations between high and low art and makes a statement about the importance of consumerism and spectacle in the 1960s.