ROOM 2

cult of celebrity

Focus is on the cult of celebrity and the fact that Pop art innovatively started depicting portraits of well-known people at the time. Bright colors, large scale. As a historical comparison, the artists used to paint gods and rulers, those of power and/or money.

Andy Warhol, King of Pop art started depicting the stars of his era, the actresses Marilyn Monroe and Elizabeth Taylor and singers such as Elvis Presley. At the same time series of the artworks were made and oftentimes silkscreen technique was used. While printmaking easily allows the repetition of motifs, Pop art also changed the essence of the term original. Therefore, there could be hundreds of Marilyns in the world, but being part of the series they are all original.

The artworks by Roy Lichtenstein offer a different approach. Roy chose individual panels from the comic books, enlarged them and used bright colors. Even though they were out of context, this shift paired with Ben-day dots worked out well, establishing an immediately recognizable Lichtenstein style still used today.