All About Gold Marilyn Monroe by Andy Warhol
Title of Artwork: “Gold Marilyn Monroe”
Artwork by Andy Warhol
Year Created 1962
Summary of Gold Marilyn Monroe
Marilyn Monroe’s life, career, and tragic death became a global fascination after her untimely death in August 1962 from an overdose of sleeping pills. Having a fascination with pop culture and celebrity, Warhol acquired a black-and-white photograph that she had taken for a 1953 film called Niagara, and proceeded to utilise that photograph as the basis for many other series of works. Throughout all of Marilyn’s work, a similar theme emerged: her picture was repeatedly duplicated, much as it would have been in newspapers and publications of the day. With hundreds or thousands of these pictures, a person is no longer seen as a person but as an emblem of popular, commercial culture. Rather of being an individual, the picture (and the person) end up as just another cereal box on the store aisle.
Gold Marilyn Monroe continues Warhol’s iconography-based play by putting Marilyn’s visage against a massive golden backdrop. Byzantine religious icons still serve as inspiration for today’s Orthodox believers, and this design evokes those in a similar vein. Instead of a deity, we see a picture of a lady who rose to prominence but died tragically, one whose image gets a little gaudy upon closer examination. By elevating celebrities to the status of gods, Warhol is making a subtle allusion to our current societal climate. Again, the Pop artist used everyday items and imagery to offer incisive observations on his contemporaries’ ideals and surroundings.
All About Gold Marilyn Monroe
Gold Marilyn Monroe meaning
The colour gold has long been associated with riches, renown, illumination, and enlightenment. It serves to bring attention to the painting’s focal point: Marilyn Monroe. Warhol did not paint Monroe’s portrait. A close-up shot from the movie Niagara inspired this piece.
Why did Andy Warhol make Gold Marilyn Monroe?
The starlet is transformed into a Byzantine Madonna, reflecting our adoration of fame, in the centre picture set against a gold backdrop. The fact that Monroe had committed suicide only months before made Warhol’s spiritual allusion all the more devastating.
Where is Gold Marilyn Monroe now?
As opposed to his renowned 1967 series of colourful screenprints, in which the actress was five times larger than life, here Marilyn sits alone in a sea of gold at eye-level with the spectator, displayed in the Museum of Modern Art.
Gold Marilyn Monroe medium
Andy Warhol, Gold Marilyn Monroe, Silkscreen ink on synthetic polymer paint on canvas, 71.25 x 57 in. (MoMA)
Information Citations
En.wikipedia.org, https://en.wikipedia.org/.
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