Marilyn Monroe was the muse that Andy Warhol never managed to portray
Her beauty was immortalized in the works of Andy Warhol, however, the artist never got to portray her.
Can you analyze 20th century Hollywood cinema without mentioning Marilyn Monroe? The answer is no. In the same way, it is impossible to talk about the Pop Art movement without referring to Andy Warhol.
Arguably, Warhol was to modern art what Monroe was to 1950s cinema. Both iconic, disruptive, and for some, ahead of their time.
The stories between these two legends crossed because the actress was immortalized in emblematic works of the painter such as: Marilyn Dorada, Marilyn Diptych, Marilyn in Orange and Shot Marilyns. However, contrary to what many would believe, Warhol never portrayed her in person.
A publicity photo, the source of inspiration for Andy Warhol
It all began in 1962. In that year Andy Warhol began to experiment with screen printing, and a few months after doing so, Marilyn would pass away.
"After her tragic death in 1962, Warhol made a series of paintings paying tribute to Marilyn Monroe," explains the official website of the Museum of Modern Art in New York (MoMA). "He based these portraits on a publicity image for the 1953 movie Niagara."
After the actress passed away, the United States and the rest of the world became even more obsessed with the myths surrounding her image. However, critics believe that no one managed to capture the essence of these mysteries better than the master of Pop Art.
"Warhol saw everything in Monroe: the promises, beauty, pleasure, fame and tragedy that America was able to create in the 1960s," the art critic Roger Kamholz explained in his article Andy Warhol and Orange Marilyn. "In his portraits [Warhol manages to capture] the multiple masks and costumes that seemed dark, but protected and defined Monroe: the actress, the sex symbol, the naive innocent, and the product of Hollywood."
Little is known about the relationship between Warhol and Marilyn before her death. Also, the artist did not speak much about it. Only in 1966, when he expressed his admiration for the actress in an interview.
“Marilyn fascinated me, just like the rest of the United States. I did about 40 paintings of her on her, ”this explained the artist to journalists Sterling McIlhenny and Peter Ray. “Most are in galleries and private collections. But I still have some for myself. "
In the end, the real story behind this painting will always keep a bit of mystery, but it is part of its essence because as journalist Isabella Geist said, “the irony of Andy Warhol's Marilyn paintings is that they are iconic pieces over an icon. created by an icon ”.
