Screenprint on paper
Tate Collection
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Collection
Marilyn
<a href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/andy-warhol-2121" aria-label="More by Andy Warhol" data-gtm-name="header_link_artist" data-gtm-destination="page--artist">Andy Warhol</a>
Purchased 1971
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Monroe, Marilyn
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<p>In Marilyn Monroe, Warhol found a fusion of two of his consistent themes: death and the cult of celebrity. The star died tragically in August 1962. In the following two years, Warhol made thirty silkscreen paintings of her, always using the same publicity photograph from the 1953 film Niagara. This set of ten screenprints was produced in 1967, in an edition of 250. The repeated image serves as the basis for a series of startling colour transformations.</p><p><em>Gallery label, September 2004</em></p>
paper print screenprint
12 May 2000 – 3 March 2002
2002-03-03
12 May 2000 – 3 March 2002
2002-03-03
2000-05-12
Tate Modern (London, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/modern/
2000-05-12
Andy Warhol: Celebrity and Death
Collection based display
26 March 2002 – 19 January 2003
2003-01-19
Tate Liverpool (Liverpool, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/liverpool/
2002-03-26
Pin Up: Glamour and Celebrity Since the Sixties
Collection based display
14 May 2004 – 11 July 2004
2004-07-11
1 May 2004 – 31 July 2004
2004-07-31
2004-05-01
New Art Gallery Walsall (Walsall, UK)
http://www.artatwalsall.org.uk/
2004-05-14
Hidden Histories
Loan-out
1 October 2007 – 31 January 2008
2008-01-31
11 October 2007 – 20 January 2008
2008-01-20
2007-10-11
National Portrait Gallery (London, UK)
http://www.npg.org.uk
2007-10-01
Pop Art Portraits
Loan-out
8 October 2008 – 18 January 2009
2009-01-18
8 October 2008 – 18 January 2009
2009-01-18
2008-10-08
Hayward Gallery (London, UK)
http://www.hayward-gallery.org.uk
2008-10-08
Andy Warhol: Other Voices, Other Rooms
Loan-out
25 July 2015 – 1 November 2015
2015-11-01
25 July 2015 – 1 November 2015
2015-11-01
2015-07-25
The Lightbox (Woking, UK)
http://www.thelightbox.org/
2015-07-25
International Pop Art
Loan-out
9 March 2017 – 31 August 2021
2021-08-31
9 March 2017 – 18 June 2017
2017-06-18
2017-03-09
British Museum (London, UK)
http://www.thebritishmuseum.ac.uk
2017-03-09
The American Dream: Pop to the Present
Loan-out
17 November 2018 – 2 June 2019
2019-06-02
17 November 2018 – 2 June 2019
2019-06-02
2018-11-17
Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art 2 (Edinburgh, UK)
2018-11-17
'I Want to be a Machine': Warhol and Paolozzi
Loan-out
[no title]
image: 910 × 910 mm
frame: 924 × 925 × 33 mm
Purchased 1971
<p>In Marilyn Monroe, Warhol found a fusion of two of his consistent themes: death and the cult of celebrity. The star died tragically in August 1962.  In the following two years, Warhol made thirty silkscreen <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/p/painting" title="Glossary definition for 'Painting'"><span>paintings</span></a> of her, always using the same publicity <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/p/photograph" title="Glossary definition for 'Photograph'"><span>photograph</span></a> from the 1953 film Niagara. This set of ten <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/s/screenprint" title="Glossary definition for 'Screenprint'"><span>screenprints</span></a> was produced in 1967, in an <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/e/edition" title="Glossary definition for 'Edition'"><span>edition</span></a> of 250. The repeated image serves as the basis for a series of startling colour transformations.</p>
Display caption
2004-09-10T00:00:00
display-caption
DISPLAY_CAPTION
<strong>Andy Warhol</strong> born 1928 [ - 87]
<p>
<a class="acno-pop" data-gtm-destination="page--artwork" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/warhol-no-title-p07121" title="View the details of this artwork"><span>P07121</span></a>-30 <strong>Marilyn</strong> 1967
</p><p>
Each print is signed on the back 'Andy Warhol' b.l. and stamped 224/250' b.r.<br/>
Ten screenprints on paper, 36 x 36 (91.4 x 91.4)<br/>
Purchased from the Leo Castelli Gallery (Grant-in-Aid) 1971<br/>
<em>Prov:</em> Factory Additions, New York; with Leo Castelli, New York<br/>
<em>Lit:</em> Rainer Crone, <em>Andy Warhol</em> (London 1970), No.619, p.310 (publisher wrongly given as Leo Castelli); Riva Castleman, <em>Modern Prints since 1942</em> (London 1973), p.134, repr. p.135 in colour
</p><p>
A set of ten <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/s/screenprint" title="Glossary definition for 'Screenprint'"><span>screenprints</span></a> in different colours published by the artist and his assistants under the name Factory Additions, New York, in 1967 in an <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/e/edition" title="Glossary definition for 'Edition'"><span>edition</span></a> of 250. This set is no.224.
</p><p>
Andy Warhol had previously made twenty-three <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/p/painting" title="Glossary definition for 'Painting'"><span>paintings</span></a> of Marilyn Monroe in 1962, the year of her death, and a further seven in 1964, all based on the same <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/p/photograph" title="Glossary definition for 'Photograph'"><span>photograph</span></a> showing her face turned slightly to her right, with her lips parted in a smile. Many of these contain a series of repetitions of this image in rows one above another (up to as many as fifty in a picture), with slight variations due mainly to the deliberate irregularity of the screen printing. Several only show repeat images of the mouth and omit the rest of the face altogether.
</p><p>
Although some of these pictures contain variations in the colouring and, especially in those of 1964, a tendency to divide the face into distinct colour zones, it was only in this series of screenprints made in 1967 that colour became the dominant feature; the image served as the basis for a series of startling colour transformations.
</p><p>
The principal colours are as follows:
</p><blockquote>
<span>P07121</span> Background green, hair yellow, face lilac, lips red, eyelids green.<br/>
<a class="acno-pop" data-gtm-destination="page--artwork" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/warhol-no-title-p07122" title="View the details of this artwork"><span>P07122</span></a> Background shocking pink, hair peach, face red, lips yellow, eyelids pink.<br/>
<a class="acno-pop" data-gtm-destination="page--artwork" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/warhol-no-title-p07123" title="View the details of this artwork"><span>P07123</span></a> Background lilac, hair yellow, face blue, lips green, eyelids lilac.<br/>
<a class="acno-pop" data-gtm-destination="page--artwork" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/warhol-no-title-p07124" title="View the details of this artwork"><span>P07124</span></a> Background dull pink and silver, hair oatmeal, face silver, lips shocking pink, eyelids dull pink and silver.<br/>
<strong>P07125</strong> Background shocking pink, hair yellow, face peach, lips purple, eyelids shocking pink.<br/>
<a class="acno-pop" data-gtm-destination="page--artwork" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/warhol-no-title-p07126" title="View the details of this artwork"><span>P07126</span></a> Background turquoise blue, hair green, face shocking pink, lips green, eyelids blue and green.<br/>
<a class="acno-pop" data-gtm-destination="page--artwork" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/warhol-no-title-p07127" title="View the details of this artwork"><span>P07127</span></a> Background green, hair yellow, face green, lips terracotta and purple, eyelids green.<br/>
<a class="acno-pop" data-gtm-destination="page--artwork" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/warhol-no-title-p07128" title="View the details of this artwork"><span>P07128</span></a> Background dull pink, hair brown, face ochre, lips purple, eyelids dull pink.<br/>
<a class="acno-pop" data-gtm-destination="page--artwork" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/warhol-no-title-p07129" title="View the details of this artwork"><span>P07129</span></a> Background blue, hair orange, face lilac, lips silver, eyelids blue.<br/>
<a class="acno-pop" data-gtm-destination="page--artwork" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/warhol-no-title-p07130" title="View the details of this artwork"><span>P07130</span></a> Background dark grey, hair light grey, face pale putty, lips black and grey, eyelids dark grey.
</blockquote>
The photograph used by Warhol as the basis for all his paintings and <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/p/print" title="Glossary definition for 'Print'"><span>prints</span></a> of Marilyn Monroe was a 20th Century Fox still, publicity for the film <em>Niagara</em> 1953, taken by Gene Kornman [reproduced p.761: not reproduced here]. (Information from John Kobal).
<p>
<strong>Published in:</strong><br/>
Ronald Alley, <em>Catalogue of the Tate Gallery's Collection of Modern Art other than Works by British Artists</em>, Tate Gallery and Sotheby Parke-Bernet, London 1981, pp.760-2, reproduced p.761


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</p>
Catalogue entry
2004-09-15T00:00:00
catalogue-entry
CATALOGUE_ENTRY
actor adults arts and entertainment birth to death body clothing and personal items colour cultural icon death emotions, concepts and ideas formal qualities head / face individuals: female lifestyle and culture make-up Monroe, Marilyn named individuals objects people photographic portraits society woman work and occupations