Lichtenstein after 1965
1977 The Blond Profile
2017 SOLD for $ 24.5M including premium
Roy Lichtenstein creates a new conception of the image with his narrative themes inspired by comics, his text bubbles, his flat areas with sharp outlines and his printing dots. He explores the root nature of imagery by elevating to the rank of major art the disproportionately enlarged picture of a brushstroke or later by observing the abstract metamorphosis of a cow.
Early in his career Roy observes the freedom of composition brought by Picasso with his juxtapositions of perspectives and his effects of mirrors. Imitating a portrait of Dora Maar, Woman with Flowered Hat painted in 1963 was sold for $ 56M including premium by Christie's on May 15, 2013.
On November 16 in New York, Sotheby's sells Female Head, oil and acrylic on canvas 152 x 127 cm painted in 1977, lot 29 estimated $ 10M.
Roy interprets Picasso's signature double perspective with his naturalist style without reversing the binocular vision : the right nostril appears on the left. The face is truncated in an outline close to an oval as in an impossible mirror that does not appear. Roy does not forget the profile but processes it in a surrealist manner by the line of the blond hair on the left. This artwork thus becomes the triple head of a unique woman amalgamated in a single figure.
Early in his career Roy observes the freedom of composition brought by Picasso with his juxtapositions of perspectives and his effects of mirrors. Imitating a portrait of Dora Maar, Woman with Flowered Hat painted in 1963 was sold for $ 56M including premium by Christie's on May 15, 2013.
On November 16 in New York, Sotheby's sells Female Head, oil and acrylic on canvas 152 x 127 cm painted in 1977, lot 29 estimated $ 10M.
Roy interprets Picasso's signature double perspective with his naturalist style without reversing the binocular vision : the right nostril appears on the left. The face is truncated in an outline close to an oval as in an impossible mirror that does not appear. Roy does not forget the profile but processes it in a surrealist manner by the line of the blond hair on the left. This artwork thus becomes the triple head of a unique woman amalgamated in a single figure.
1977 Girl with Beach Ball
2021 SOLD for $ 14M by Sotheby's
From his beginnings, Roy Lichtenstein was much inspired by the deconstruction of figures by Picasso. His series of beach scenes conceived in 1976 is a direct reference to the art of the late master.
The 1928 summertime in Dinard mingles innocence and forbidden love. Pablo manages for his wife Olga and his secret mistress Marie-Thérèse to use separate beaches. Olga was ill and did not suspect that Pablo had an affair.
The beach ball held by the raised arm of a woman is the symbol of the innocent pleasures of the beach. Two versions of the Girl with Beach Ball are painted by Roy in 1977. The blonde girl is reminiscent of Marie-Thérèse. Both paintings are colored in red dots on white for the bare skin, in hatched or flat areas around the body, and use the same unique bright yellow for hair and sand.
One of them is a mingle of Pablo's dual angle of view and of Roy's frequent theme of the mirror. The face with a double mouth is nearly a duplication of the Female head of the same year, sold by Sotheby's in 2017.
Girl with Beach Ball II, oil and acrylic on canvas 152 x 127 cm, was sold for $ 14M by Sotheby's on May 12, 2021, lot 3. The technique of drawing is similar, with also the same white dots on red for the lips as in the Female head referred above. The body viewed in half length is nude.
The 1928 summertime in Dinard mingles innocence and forbidden love. Pablo manages for his wife Olga and his secret mistress Marie-Thérèse to use separate beaches. Olga was ill and did not suspect that Pablo had an affair.
The beach ball held by the raised arm of a woman is the symbol of the innocent pleasures of the beach. Two versions of the Girl with Beach Ball are painted by Roy in 1977. The blonde girl is reminiscent of Marie-Thérèse. Both paintings are colored in red dots on white for the bare skin, in hatched or flat areas around the body, and use the same unique bright yellow for hair and sand.
One of them is a mingle of Pablo's dual angle of view and of Roy's frequent theme of the mirror. The face with a double mouth is nearly a duplication of the Female head of the same year, sold by Sotheby's in 2017.
Girl with Beach Ball II, oil and acrylic on canvas 152 x 127 cm, was sold for $ 14M by Sotheby's on May 12, 2021, lot 3. The technique of drawing is similar, with also the same white dots on red for the lips as in the Female head referred above. The body viewed in half length is nude.
1990 Thud by Lichtenstein
2021 SOLD for HK$ 110M by Sotheby's
For Roy Lichtenstein, graphic art is an illusion. He reveals such a truth in 1965 with his series of large format Brushstrokes. The mirror is a similar source of inspiration. In 1964 the Girl in mirror is directly viewed only in her blonde hair from backside but her hilarious face is framed within the mirror held by her hand. An example from an edition in porcelain enamel on steel 107 x 107 cm was sold by Phillips for £ 4.8M on March 7, 2019.
Roy revisits the theme of the reflections after 1988, now associated with his signature appropriation of comics.
On April 19, 2021, Sotheby's sold for HK$ 110M Reflections on Thud!, oil and acrylic on canvas 140 x 244 cm painted in 1990, lot 1112 from a lower estimate of HK $ 78M.
The image features a tyrannosaurus falling dead on its back with its mouth opened on its fangs. The source is a comics as evidenced by the onomatopoeia of the fall, THUD. The foreground is made of four slightly oblique parallel bars of uneven width, suggesting that the scene is viewed through a pattern of invisible glass, potentially oblique or distorting.
Such an interesting experimentation with a possible multiple angle of view had a follow in the period of the nude blondes at home. Nudes in mirror stages two women in different sizes, both facing a unique framed mirror. Tiny details reveal that the farthest is not the result of a multiple reflection of her teammate. This 1994 painting 254 x 213 cm was sold for $ 21.5M by Phillips on May 15, 2013.
Roy revisits the theme of the reflections after 1988, now associated with his signature appropriation of comics.
On April 19, 2021, Sotheby's sold for HK$ 110M Reflections on Thud!, oil and acrylic on canvas 140 x 244 cm painted in 1990, lot 1112 from a lower estimate of HK $ 78M.
The image features a tyrannosaurus falling dead on its back with its mouth opened on its fangs. The source is a comics as evidenced by the onomatopoeia of the fall, THUD. The foreground is made of four slightly oblique parallel bars of uneven width, suggesting that the scene is viewed through a pattern of invisible glass, potentially oblique or distorting.
Such an interesting experimentation with a possible multiple angle of view had a follow in the period of the nude blondes at home. Nudes in mirror stages two women in different sizes, both facing a unique framed mirror. Tiny details reveal that the farthest is not the result of a multiple reflection of her teammate. This 1994 painting 254 x 213 cm was sold for $ 21.5M by Phillips on May 15, 2013.
1994 Intimate Music
2020 SOLD for $ 46M including premium
Roy Lichtenstein appropriates images edited or painted by others. By transforming them, he brings another meaning that can be the opposite. The enlargement from a comic maintains the simplicity of the lines which was important for the legibility of the tiny original. He reaches the basics of art, without verbiage and without losing his humor.
Roy also offers his vision of art history. He likes the pure lines of the naked bodies in La Danse by Matisse. Painted in 1974, Artist's Studio - The Dance exhibits that masterpiece of the other artist on the back wall, behind a big mess. On the right side, a truncated image shows some musical notes on a stave.
In 1994 Roy restarts one of his signature themes : the young woman copied from a comic panel, colored with dots that mimic printing patterns. Henceforth the woman is nude, sometimes in the presence of another naked woman, never with a man.
On July 10 in New York, Christie's sells as lot 58 Nude with Joyous Painting, oil and acrylic 178 x 135 cm painted in 1994. The press release of May 15 announces an estimate in the region of $ 30M. Please watch the video shared by the auction house.
In the comic book, the pretty blonde had a love sorrow. Now she is naked and the explanatory text is no longer available : she is simply waiting for something undefined which is probably not a partner. She may be finishing her washing after putting a headband.
The joyous painting announced by the title is the image of a musical stave in volutes, as in the pastiche of La Danse. This musical symbol brings a nice atmosphere of innocent intimacy.
Roy also offers his vision of art history. He likes the pure lines of the naked bodies in La Danse by Matisse. Painted in 1974, Artist's Studio - The Dance exhibits that masterpiece of the other artist on the back wall, behind a big mess. On the right side, a truncated image shows some musical notes on a stave.
In 1994 Roy restarts one of his signature themes : the young woman copied from a comic panel, colored with dots that mimic printing patterns. Henceforth the woman is nude, sometimes in the presence of another naked woman, never with a man.
On July 10 in New York, Christie's sells as lot 58 Nude with Joyous Painting, oil and acrylic 178 x 135 cm painted in 1994. The press release of May 15 announces an estimate in the region of $ 30M. Please watch the video shared by the auction house.
In the comic book, the pretty blonde had a love sorrow. Now she is naked and the explanatory text is no longer available : she is simply waiting for something undefined which is probably not a partner. She may be finishing her washing after putting a headband.
The joyous painting announced by the title is the image of a musical stave in volutes, as in the pastiche of La Danse. This musical symbol brings a nice atmosphere of innocent intimacy.
1994 The Privacy of the Modern Woman
2013 SOLD 23.6 M$ including premium
The world has changed in the three previous decades, in 1993, when Roy Lichtenstein focuses on the female nude. This new series of paintings, which unfortunately will be his last, is actually a remarkable synthesis of his career.
The guess by the observer of some relationship between the artist and the model is one of the strongest features in Roy's art. If the woman does not appear to be disturbed in her privacy, It is really a paradox because otherwise how would the artist be able to see her?
Roy had also interpreted the excessive comfort of bourgeois homes. It is logical and ironic that he got the idea to make them enlived by a naked woman.
These canvases of great size, larger than life, are using the technique of the artist with solid and dotted areas. The colors are unimportant on the condition of being bright, only the blond head is realistic.
The drawing is neat, without falling into the provocative eroticism of Wesselmann. Roy relies on previous images of his art improved by removing clothes and modernizing accessories.
The woman with the yellow flower is standing alone, concentrating on her phone call. Does the person on the other end of the line appreciate that she is nude? The heart of the flower is like a question mark. This canvas painted in 1994, 233 x 183 cm, is estimated $ 12M, for sale by Christie's in New York on May 15. Here is the link to the catalog.
On November 14, 2012, over the same lower estimate, Christie's sold $ 28M including premium a nude with a red shirt, 198 x 168 cm, painted in 1995.
POST SALE COMMENT
Compared with the Red shirt sold last year, the estimate was far too reasonable. The art market now welcomes the last paintings by Lichtenstein. The Nude with yellow flower was sold $ 23.6 million including premium.
The guess by the observer of some relationship between the artist and the model is one of the strongest features in Roy's art. If the woman does not appear to be disturbed in her privacy, It is really a paradox because otherwise how would the artist be able to see her?
Roy had also interpreted the excessive comfort of bourgeois homes. It is logical and ironic that he got the idea to make them enlived by a naked woman.
These canvases of great size, larger than life, are using the technique of the artist with solid and dotted areas. The colors are unimportant on the condition of being bright, only the blond head is realistic.
The drawing is neat, without falling into the provocative eroticism of Wesselmann. Roy relies on previous images of his art improved by removing clothes and modernizing accessories.
The woman with the yellow flower is standing alone, concentrating on her phone call. Does the person on the other end of the line appreciate that she is nude? The heart of the flower is like a question mark. This canvas painted in 1994, 233 x 183 cm, is estimated $ 12M, for sale by Christie's in New York on May 15. Here is the link to the catalog.
On November 14, 2012, over the same lower estimate, Christie's sold $ 28M including premium a nude with a red shirt, 198 x 168 cm, painted in 1995.
POST SALE COMMENT
Compared with the Red shirt sold last year, the estimate was far too reasonable. The art market now welcomes the last paintings by Lichtenstein. The Nude with yellow flower was sold $ 23.6 million including premium.
1994 Perfect Pitcher
2021 SOLD for $ 21.5M by Christie's
Roy Lichtenstein used throughout his career to mingle his own themes. His Interiors series, conceived around 1990, enables unprecedented associations.
The basic inspiration is certainly Matisse's L'Atelier Rouge of 1911 displaying all sorts of pictures hanging on the red wall. Lichtenstein adds his own confusion between the direct viewing and the reflection in a mirror. His insertion of artworks in the images enables many references to art history including his favorite artists Picasso and Matisse but also Monet, Calder, Warhol or himself.
Interior with Yves Klein sculpture, oil and acrylic on canvas 305 x 430 cm painted in 1991, was sold for $ 6.7M by Christie's on November 10, 2015, lot 12 B. The sculpture is an IKB sponge. An image on the wall is the portrait of King Henry VIII by Holbein. An antique marble of the Discobolus is totally out of the field excepted the foot plus a hand holding half of the disk.
In 1994 the nude woman is an unprecedented theme in Roy's art. An Interior opus, subtitled Perfect Pitcher, mingles both. This oil and acrylic on canvas 306 x 490 cm was sold for $ 21.5M by Christie's on May 13, 2021, lot 18 B.
In the cozy dressing room furnished with a sectional sofa and two low tables, four pictures are hanging on the walls, in addition to the edge of a tall mirror in the foreground.
The subtitle refers to the image of two pitchers. One of them is the direct copy of a real life artefact placed on a low table and thus cannot be a reflection, and the other is an image within that image within the artwork. It is both a direct reference to Picasso's still lifes and a pun for Perfect Picture. An arrangement of geometric vessels in the taste of Picasso or Morandi hangs beside it. The left wall displays an image of musical notes on waving staves, a feature previously used by Roy in 1974 in a pastiche of Matisse's La Danse.
The fourth illustration is a red haired life size woman seated in an aggressive enticing position. She is not in an extension of the room because her scene has a mirror frame, but it cannot be a mirror because no element from the room is reflected. She is indeed copied from a comic book of the 1960s with the usual Ben-Day dots of the artist.
Nude with joyous painting, also including the musical score, is in the direct follow. This painting 178 x 135 cm was sold for $ 46M by Christie's in 2020.
The basic inspiration is certainly Matisse's L'Atelier Rouge of 1911 displaying all sorts of pictures hanging on the red wall. Lichtenstein adds his own confusion between the direct viewing and the reflection in a mirror. His insertion of artworks in the images enables many references to art history including his favorite artists Picasso and Matisse but also Monet, Calder, Warhol or himself.
Interior with Yves Klein sculpture, oil and acrylic on canvas 305 x 430 cm painted in 1991, was sold for $ 6.7M by Christie's on November 10, 2015, lot 12 B. The sculpture is an IKB sponge. An image on the wall is the portrait of King Henry VIII by Holbein. An antique marble of the Discobolus is totally out of the field excepted the foot plus a hand holding half of the disk.
In 1994 the nude woman is an unprecedented theme in Roy's art. An Interior opus, subtitled Perfect Pitcher, mingles both. This oil and acrylic on canvas 306 x 490 cm was sold for $ 21.5M by Christie's on May 13, 2021, lot 18 B.
In the cozy dressing room furnished with a sectional sofa and two low tables, four pictures are hanging on the walls, in addition to the edge of a tall mirror in the foreground.
The subtitle refers to the image of two pitchers. One of them is the direct copy of a real life artefact placed on a low table and thus cannot be a reflection, and the other is an image within that image within the artwork. It is both a direct reference to Picasso's still lifes and a pun for Perfect Picture. An arrangement of geometric vessels in the taste of Picasso or Morandi hangs beside it. The left wall displays an image of musical notes on waving staves, a feature previously used by Roy in 1974 in a pastiche of Matisse's La Danse.
The fourth illustration is a red haired life size woman seated in an aggressive enticing position. She is not in an extension of the room because her scene has a mirror frame, but it cannot be a mirror because no element from the room is reflected. She is indeed copied from a comic book of the 1960s with the usual Ben-Day dots of the artist.
Nude with joyous painting, also including the musical score, is in the direct follow. This painting 178 x 135 cm was sold for $ 46M by Christie's in 2020.
1994 Attack in a Mirror
2016 SOLD for $ 21.5M including premium
In the early 1960s women find another role to their own bodies. Partially or fully unveiled, it is no more only a call to the sexual partner but a symbol of a new freedom.
In this first phase of his career, Roy Lichtenstein shakes the traditional iconography but does not pay attention to the nude. Three decades later he retrieves his collection of magazines whose sentimental scenes had once served as his models. He now strips these young women in the intimate atmosphere of their modern apartment.
In his rich artistic vocabulary Roy loves to explore the theme of reflection that had inspired Velazquez and Manet before him. Nudes in Mirror, oil and acrylic on canvas 254 x 213 cm painted in 1994, offers troubling angles without indeed needing an erotic attitude.
The mirror occupies the entire field of the canvas and lets see the reflection of the blonde woman to the waist, much larger than life. The artist was an intruder because he occupied the physical position of that woman facing the mirror in the nude. For the same reason the viewer loses his own identity. A wide diagonal bar and a secondary image that may be from the same woman bring an impossible geometry worthy of Escher.
An artist is successful when his work arouses passions. In 2005 Nudes in Mirror was slashed in four large cuts from a screwdriver during an exhibition in Austria. The canvas has been repaired. It is for sale by Phillips in New York on November 16, lot 15. After such a history the estimate is difficult to establish and the auction house did not publish it.
In this first phase of his career, Roy Lichtenstein shakes the traditional iconography but does not pay attention to the nude. Three decades later he retrieves his collection of magazines whose sentimental scenes had once served as his models. He now strips these young women in the intimate atmosphere of their modern apartment.
In his rich artistic vocabulary Roy loves to explore the theme of reflection that had inspired Velazquez and Manet before him. Nudes in Mirror, oil and acrylic on canvas 254 x 213 cm painted in 1994, offers troubling angles without indeed needing an erotic attitude.
The mirror occupies the entire field of the canvas and lets see the reflection of the blonde woman to the waist, much larger than life. The artist was an intruder because he occupied the physical position of that woman facing the mirror in the nude. For the same reason the viewer loses his own identity. A wide diagonal bar and a secondary image that may be from the same woman bring an impossible geometry worthy of Escher.
An artist is successful when his work arouses passions. In 2005 Nudes in Mirror was slashed in four large cuts from a screwdriver during an exhibition in Austria. The canvas has been repaired. It is for sale by Phillips in New York on November 16, lot 15. After such a history the estimate is difficult to establish and the auction house did not publish it.
1995 Nude with Red Shirt by Lichtenstein
2012 SOLD for $ 28M including premium by Christie's
narrated in 2020
In 1993 Roy Lichtenstein reinterpreted the comics that had made his glory thirty years earlier. The evolution of manners and the new freedom acquired and claimed by young women allow him to strip them to the nude.
In the first works in the series, exhibited by Castelli in November 1994, the aesthetics of voluptuous curves often take precedence over narration. Amorous thoughts already appear in some scenes.
In the Nude with Yellow Flower, sold for $ 23.6M including premium by Christie's on May 15, 2013, the young woman phones while preparing a flower for her interlocutor. In the 1960s comics she wore a swimsuit.
Nude with Red Shirt, oil and acrylic on canvas 198 x 168 cm painted in 1995, was sold for $ 28M including premium by Christie's on November 14, 2012, lot 39.
In her bedroom, the young blonde slips her shirt over her shoulders. The viewer's attention is focused on the bare skin. In the original image, she wore underpants. The narrative figures are only seen at second reading.
The left edge of the image is broken by the hair of a woman. What is she doing ? Roy does not give his solution but in the original comic book she was the sister. The framed portrait of a young man on the nightstand leads to conclude that the main character is heterosexual.
In the following year the women are more overtly exciting. A Seductive Girl was sold for $ 31.5M including premium by Christie's on November 12, 2013.
In the first works in the series, exhibited by Castelli in November 1994, the aesthetics of voluptuous curves often take precedence over narration. Amorous thoughts already appear in some scenes.
In the Nude with Yellow Flower, sold for $ 23.6M including premium by Christie's on May 15, 2013, the young woman phones while preparing a flower for her interlocutor. In the 1960s comics she wore a swimsuit.
Nude with Red Shirt, oil and acrylic on canvas 198 x 168 cm painted in 1995, was sold for $ 28M including premium by Christie's on November 14, 2012, lot 39.
In her bedroom, the young blonde slips her shirt over her shoulders. The viewer's attention is focused on the bare skin. In the original image, she wore underpants. The narrative figures are only seen at second reading.
The left edge of the image is broken by the hair of a woman. What is she doing ? Roy does not give his solution but in the original comic book she was the sister. The framed portrait of a young man on the nightstand leads to conclude that the main character is heterosexual.
In the following year the women are more overtly exciting. A Seductive Girl was sold for $ 31.5M including premium by Christie's on November 12, 2013.
1995 Hope and Jealousy of the Naked Woman
2017 SOLD for $ 24M including premium
An often iconoclastic theorist in many genres of painting, Roy Lichtenstein appreciates when turning 70 years old that the viewer wants nude women. He observes: "If you draw three lines that look like a nude, people see a nude".
To join this everlasting theme of art, he undresses the young women from the sentimental stories of his old magazines. In a first phase he chooses apartment scenes with one or two girls in their usual occupations. The condition of women has changed, fortunately, and these scenes which once would have been risqué are no longer shocking.
The old artist then takes a step forward towards eroticism. He reads again a sentimental story published in 1964 in Heart Throbs magazine. His young woman is the conformal copy of the original blonde except that now she is naked. He removes the texts which explained too directly her dramas.
On May 18 in New York, Sotheby's sells at lot 8 an oil and acrylic on canvas 148 x 152 cm painted in 1995. The press release of April 10 announces an estimate in the region of $ 20M.
In the comic book the woman is sitting and leaning on the edge of the bed and dreams of her success : Danny likes me; He likes me for me ; He does not know I can be beautiful. Once stripped by Roy she retains from the original version a too thick and too red mouth assessing that despite her perfect body her sex appeal is vulgar.
This painting is named Nude sunbathing, a surprising title since the original indoor scene is not contradicted in the nude version. Tentatively Roy was looking for an occupational excuse to justify the increasing eroticism of his art.
In the following year the taboos are finally removed with a charming image re-appropriated from further in the same story. In the comics the young woman in bed cannot fall asleep because her Danny is in love with another girl. Her gaze is languid. Roy takes off her nightgown : Seductive Girl was sold for $ 31.5M including premium by Christie's on November 12, 2013.
Please watch the video shared by Sotheby's.
To join this everlasting theme of art, he undresses the young women from the sentimental stories of his old magazines. In a first phase he chooses apartment scenes with one or two girls in their usual occupations. The condition of women has changed, fortunately, and these scenes which once would have been risqué are no longer shocking.
The old artist then takes a step forward towards eroticism. He reads again a sentimental story published in 1964 in Heart Throbs magazine. His young woman is the conformal copy of the original blonde except that now she is naked. He removes the texts which explained too directly her dramas.
On May 18 in New York, Sotheby's sells at lot 8 an oil and acrylic on canvas 148 x 152 cm painted in 1995. The press release of April 10 announces an estimate in the region of $ 20M.
In the comic book the woman is sitting and leaning on the edge of the bed and dreams of her success : Danny likes me; He likes me for me ; He does not know I can be beautiful. Once stripped by Roy she retains from the original version a too thick and too red mouth assessing that despite her perfect body her sex appeal is vulgar.
This painting is named Nude sunbathing, a surprising title since the original indoor scene is not contradicted in the nude version. Tentatively Roy was looking for an occupational excuse to justify the increasing eroticism of his art.
In the following year the taboos are finally removed with a charming image re-appropriated from further in the same story. In the comics the young woman in bed cannot fall asleep because her Danny is in love with another girl. Her gaze is languid. Roy takes off her nightgown : Seductive Girl was sold for $ 31.5M including premium by Christie's on November 12, 2013.
Please watch the video shared by Sotheby's.
1996 A Nice Blonde with the Old Roy
2013 SOLD 31.5 M$ including premium
In 1993, when Roy Lichtenstein focuses on the female nude, he actually starts two different lines of images. In one of them, the woman is nude in her apartment, busy in her daily activities. The other set shows her in bust, centered in a bold close-up composition where the frame is cutting hair, arms and lower breast.
Same as Munch, Lichtenstein is a great picture maker who prepares prints. Prints from his later career, after almost twenty years, regularly appear on the market. A printed copy of the 1994 nude with blue hair, 130 x 80 cm, was sold for $ 320K including premium by Christie's on October 30, 2013.
The paintings on this theme are still rare at auction. A Seductive Girl painted on canvas in 1996, 127 x 183 cm, is estimated $ 22M , for sale by Christie's in New York on November 12.
This pretty blonde on her bed is a sister of the young women painted by Roy thirty years earlier after copying images in the comic books. Her texture is also composed of colored dots more or less densely arranged for bringing the perspective.
Unlike her former friends, she is naked. As usual with Roy, this modern young woman establishes a communication with the viewer, but for once she is not troubled but troubling. She gently seduces the old Roy.
This creative impulse was unfortunately stopped in the following year by the sudden death of Roy, aged 74.
POST SALE COMMENT
This great example of creativity at the end of Lichtenstein's career was sold for $ 31.5 million including premium.
Same as Munch, Lichtenstein is a great picture maker who prepares prints. Prints from his later career, after almost twenty years, regularly appear on the market. A printed copy of the 1994 nude with blue hair, 130 x 80 cm, was sold for $ 320K including premium by Christie's on October 30, 2013.
The paintings on this theme are still rare at auction. A Seductive Girl painted on canvas in 1996, 127 x 183 cm, is estimated $ 22M , for sale by Christie's in New York on November 12.
This pretty blonde on her bed is a sister of the young women painted by Roy thirty years earlier after copying images in the comic books. Her texture is also composed of colored dots more or less densely arranged for bringing the perspective.
Unlike her former friends, she is naked. As usual with Roy, this modern young woman establishes a communication with the viewer, but for once she is not troubled but troubling. She gently seduces the old Roy.
This creative impulse was unfortunately stopped in the following year by the sudden death of Roy, aged 74.
POST SALE COMMENT
This great example of creativity at the end of Lichtenstein's career was sold for $ 31.5 million including premium.
