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"Marilyn Diptych"

Andy Warhol


famous painting Marilyn Diptych of Andy Warhol


Introduction to Pop Art and Andy Warhol


Pop art is a visual art movement that emerged in the mid-20th century, characterized by its use of popular and mass culture as subject matter. The movement aimed to challenge traditional fine art practices by incorporating imagery from advertising, comic books, and everyday objects. One of the most famous pop artists was Andy Warhol (August 6, 1928 – February 22, 1987), an American artist who was a leading figure in the visual art movement known as pop art. His works explore the relationship between artistic expression, advertising, and celebrity culture that flourished by the 1960s, and span a variety of media, including painting, silkscreening, photography, film, and sculpture.

The Marilyn Diptych


One of Warhol's most famous works is the Marilyn Diptych (1962), a silkscreen painting that depicts Marilyn Monroe. The monumental work is one of the artist's most noted of the movie star and consists of 50 images, each taken from the single publicity photograph from the film Niagara (1953). The underlying publicity photograph that Warhol used as a basis for his many paintings and prints of Marilyn, and the Marilyn Diptych, was owned and distributed by her movie studio.
The painting is divided into two parts: the left side features 25 images of Monroe in vibrant colors, while the right side features the same 25 images in black and white. The relation between the left side of the canvas and the right side of the canvas is evocative of the relation between the celebrity's life and death.

Significance of the Marilyn Diptych


The Marilyn Diptych has received praise from writers such as American academic and cultural critic Camille Paglia, who wrote in 2012's Glittering Images lauding how it shows the "multiplicity of meanings" in Monroe's life and legacy. In a December 2, 2004, article in The Guardian, the painting was named the third most influential piece of modern art in a survey of 500 artists, critics, and others.

Appropriation and Fair Use


Warhol is regarded as an artist known for the appropriation of images and he often made use of publicity photographs and publicly available photographs and motifs not owned by him, which often brought him into conflict with the owners of the source material. An example of this is Warhol's Marilyn series including the Marilyn Diptych, which resulted in a settlement with the owner of the Marilyn Monroe publicity photograph which he used as the source material for the paintings.

Conclusion


The Marilyn Diptych is an iconic symbol of pop art and one of Warhol's most noted works. The painting highlights the artist's use of appropriation, mass culture, and mechanical means of reproduction, which are all characteristic of the pop art movement.


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