Marilyn Monroe

Warhol, Andy. Marilyn Monroe. Andy Warhol Gallery. Web.

After Marilyn Monroe’s suicide on August 5, 1962, Warhol produced a number of portraits based on her publicity. The silk prints, pictured above, portrayed Marilyn Monroe in many colors and shades. In three panels Warhol illustrated Monroe’s identity through three different perspectives by altering the color of the skin, the eyes, the hair, and the lips.

Warhol was demonstrating society’s obsession with celebrities. In creating certain “images” that fictionalized these individuals’ identities. Monroe’s suicide was an example of the discrepancy between societies fictionalized image as opposed to the true identity of these individuals. Warhol’s work demonstrates the struggle for identity that is occurring in today’s pop culture.