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See the original at Tate Modern, London in London
Marilyn Diptych
by Andy Warhol, 1962
Artwork Details
Details
- Year
- 1962
- Medium
- Acrylic paint on canvas
- Size
- 205.4 cm × 289.6 cm
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Andy Warhol created the Marilyn Diptych in 1962, shortly after Monroe's death. Fifty images of Marilyn (based on a publicity still) repeat across two canvases. The left panel glows with vivid color; the right fades into ghostly black and white.
The format echoes religious altarpieces. Color represents life and celebrity; monochrome suggests death and fading memory. The silkscreen process produces variations in each image, with some nearly disappearing. It's one of the defining works of Pop Art. It hangs at Tate Modern.
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About Marilyn Diptych
The two-panel format references religious altarpieces. Warhol presents Marilyn as a modern saint. The color/monochrome contrast suggests life fading into death.
The silkscreen process naturally degraded with repeated use. Warhol exploited this, letting Marilyn's image fade and disappear, evoking her death and the mortality of celebrity.
Warhol used a publicity still from Niagara (1953). He cropped and repeated this single image throughout his Marilyn series, making it iconic through repetition.
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