Like Andy Warhol, James Rosenquist or Jasper Johns, Roy Lichtenstein is a key effigy from the pop art motility. Artalistic delves deep into this American creative person's career through 10 of his about famous works of art.

Roy Lichtenstein: iconic pop artist

A key figure in contemporary art

When y'all retrieve of Popular Art Roy Lichtenstein (1923-1997) is bound to come to mind. His work was influenced past comic strips and advertisements. He uses bold colors and Ben-Day dots to create secondary colors. This technique is used in printing, peculiarly in comics, and photoengraving to create shading and secondary colors. His piece of work was and continues to be completely unique within its genre.

Roy Lichtenstein'southward contributions to popular art

Roy Lichtenstein became interested in fine art in his teens and took watercolor classes at Parsons School of Design in 1937 and various art classes at the Art Students League in 1940. Lichtenstein went on to report fine arts at Ohio Land University. His studies were interrupted in 1943 when he was drafted into World War Two. After completing his service in Europe he returned to Ohio Country in 1946 to finish his undergraduate and master's degrees in fine arts.

In the 1950s and 60s he experimented with different techniques, creating commentary pieces that brought Abstract Expressionist paintings of the time into question. Instead of creating subject-less art, Lichtenstein borrowed imagery from comic books and advertising.

His vision was a major breakthrough every bit he churned out increasingly powerful pieces exploding with colour and exceptional compositions.

10 seminal pieces from pop artist Roy Lichtenstein

1. Masterpiece (1962)

Masterpiece is a perfect case of Roy Lichtenstein's iconic manner, combining comic book imagery and painting. Lichtenstein saw pop fine art as being inseparable from pop culture. For him they complemented and enriched each other.

In 2017, the painting Masterpiece was sold for a tape $165 meg to the collector Steven A. Cohen.

2. Drowning girl (1963)

Drowning Girl is considered to be one of Roy Lichtenstien's well-nigh pregnant works and has been described equally a masterpiece of melodrama. It is a prime example of Lichtenstein'south painterly work that imitates mechanized reproduction. It depicts a woman in a tragic situation – a theme that he would revisit during the mid-1960s. This piece was derived from a 1962 DC Comic, both the imagery and text featured in the thought bubble are elements taken from the original piece of work. Roy Lichtenstein's reappropriation of images such every bit this ane has been a hot topic of argue in the art globe.

3. Look Mickey (1961)

Look Mickey is Roy Lichtenstein's first slice that took a painterly approach to pop culture. It was also the first time he used Ben-Day dots, speech bubbles and comic imagery. For this piece he borrowed elements from a cartoon in a 1960s children'due south book entitled Donald Duck: Lost and Found.

4. Crying Girl (1963)

Some other famous popular art painting by Roy Lichtenstein, Crying Girl gives united states a glimpse of the artist'south manner, incorporating closely framed compositions of the subjects, large flat areas of colour and heavy blackness outlines. This very graphic and hit comic book inspired visual vocabulary became Lichtenstein's signature style. Crying Girl is the proper name of two dissimilar pieces, an beginning lithograph on lightweight, fair wove newspaper and a porcelain enamel on steel.

5. Happy Tears (1964)

Roy Lichtenstein'due south popular art is full of portraits of bawling women racked by worry, sadness and grief, oft caused past dearest affairs with domineering men. Happy Tears is still another comic-based woman featuring "hard, crisp, breakable and uniformly modish in appearance." Withal, this painting depicts a woman crying because she is happy about something that is exterior of the closely cropped sheet.

half dozen. Whaam! (1963)

Whaam! is another famous Roy Lichtenstein painting inspired by the comic book All American Men of War. This diptych is part of a series on war that he created between 1962 and 1964. This slice was most probable inspired by his time serving in the US Ground forces during Globe War Two.

7. In The Car (1963)

In the car is the name of ii different pop art paintings created past Roy Lichtenstein. The larger of the two has been office of the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Fine art in Edinburgh's permanent drove since 1980. This is 1 of many paintings by Lichtenstein that draw a man and a woman in a tense melodramatic scene. Hither he used vertical lines to convey the sense that the car is in motility.

8. Hopeless (1963)

This painting entitled Hopeless features one of Roy Lichtenstein's master themes, a woman in in the throes of romance. The thought bubble is also one of this American artist'due south trademarks.

nine. Ohhh… Alright… (1964)

What would Roy Lichtenstein's popular fine art exist without the presence of the female subject field? Isn't love, and its joy and sorrow, the most universal theme in art history? This painting is based on an paradigm from the comic book Secret Hearts (1963).

10. Oh, Jeff… I love you lot too… (1964)

Oh Jeff, I love you too but... has been heralded as Roy Lichtenstein'due south Mona Lisa. Hither we see another blue-eyed blonde haired woman with sad eyes seemingly giving into a doomed dearest affair. Nosotros run across hither, again, Lichtenstein's use of enlarged Ben-Day dots, bold outlines and images that were cropped and magnified from the original source materials.

Regardless of whether you love or hate Roy Lichtenstein'due south pop art, you might notice a piece of fine art you would like to invest in by browsing our carefully curated galleries of paintings, sculptures, photographs and drawings by well-established and emerging artists. When purchasing with Artalistic you lot can residuum bodacious that you are dealing with one of the world'due south leading online art investment platforms. Nosotros bring you our discerning heart for fine art, a team of experts yous can trust and a safe and secure interface. Stay in the know by following our art blog!