Gold Marilyn Monroe

Art Commentary by Thomas Murphy

The silkscreen of Marilyn Monroe is nearly immediately recognized and connected to the work of Andy Warhol, even by those who could be considered to be far removed from the art-world, or unfamiliar with contemporary artists and art history. Most often her face is seen in her work in repetition, emphasizing the ideas of mass-production and referencing the context of pop culture and fame.

1962. Silkscreen ink on synthetic polymer paint on canvas, 6' 11 1/4" x 57" (211.4 x 144.7 cm)

Museum of Modern Art. New York, New York.

First Live Viewing

(2009): alongside Marina Abramovic’s the Artist is Present and William Kentridge’s current exhibition.

First Visit (January 2013)

• Gold• Lack of repetition• Luminous• Textured

Second Visit (Feb. 2013)Immediate Thoughts:PermanentSadIntriguing

http://www.moma.org/explore/multimedia/audios/3/82

Historical Context

• Researching further into the piece, Warhol made this work the year that Monroe committed suicide (MoMA). The single-face and gold outline makes even more sense with this understood, and references the idea of a shrine—but on canvas. It references byzantine Christian icon paintings through the shimmery gold, and even the slight defects

• Speaking towards her face, the gallery text reads as following:

“By duplicating a photograph known to millions, Warhol undermined the uniqueness and authenticity characteristic of traditional portraiture. Instead he presented Monroe as an infinitely reproducible image”

MoMA Gallery Text

• Soon after her tragic death in 1962, Warhol made a series of paintings paying tribute to Marilyn Monroe, the film star and sex symbol who had captured America’s imagination in films like Gentlemen Prefer Blondes and How to Marry a Millionaire. Warhol based this portrait on a publicity still from the 1953 film Niagara. He painted the background gold before silkscreening the boldly colored face in the center, adding black to show her features. Even as Warhol canonizes Monroe, he reveals her public persona as a carefully structured illusion.

Discussion Question: Why was one of his final works of her lacking the infamous repetition?

Final Museum Visit

• With my parents on their first visit to the MoMA.

• Alongside Wolfgang Laib’s Pollen from Hazelnut.

• Saturday, early afternoon.

• The viewing of it amongst a small population—fluidly after seeing a performance—contrasted greatly with seeing it in front of a crowd insistent upon taking their pictures with it, and taking pictures of it. This same crowd poked humor at the main exhibition, but connected with Gold Marilyn Monroe.

• This does not mean that I feel more above or greater than the crowd who flocked to an icon and type of art medium they understood, however. I, too, poked fun at the pollen, joking with my mother that if I got close to it I would likely have an allergy attack and need to go to the hospital (true).

“The variety in crowds served as a catalyst for me to understand that Marilyn in Gold reflects onto each viewer differently, and the variants and occurrences in the museum affects its place in the Museum of Modern Art.”

After the Museum,Reflection

• Referencing culture• Celebrating work• Immediacy of production

Marilyn Diptych. 1962. Andy Warhol.

On Repetition

• “Warhol took Marilyn Monroe as his subject in different mediums, silk-screening the actress’s image multiple times in a grid in bright colors and in black and white. By repeating Monroe’s image (and that of other celebrities) over and over again, Warhol acknowledged his own fascination with a society in which personas could be manufactured, commoditized, and consumed like products.”

Final Thoughts