In this portrait, Andy Warhol presented Marilyn Monroe in the format typically associated with religious artworks. This work was created just a few weeks after Monroe’s untimely death and it seems like a pop art shrine. Hers was a face that graced the pages of every magazine and tabloid. She was a young girl, Norma Jean who had been plucked from obscurity and celebrated around the world for her beauty, but outside of public view, she struggled with her mental health, failed relationships and substance abuse. She was a martyr of the common culture’s celebrity worship. In Warhol’s diptych, we see 50 repetitions of her famous face. On one panel, there is shockingly bold underpainting creating a cartoonish appearance. On the other we see 25 black and white copies of the same shadows and contours but without the garish color. There are varying degrees of intensity. Some over-saturated with black and others fading to the ghost of an image. And yet, with all of these, we never see the real Marilyn. We see only copies of a publicity still. The image of a star at the height of her fame and beauty. Frozen in time and sent out for others to see and appreciate. The image prime for reproduction and distortion. For the artist and audience to project and see as they wish.
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