Red Marilyn

As a memorial to the late starlet, Andy Warhol created his first portrait of Marilyn Monroe, Marilyn Diptych, in the months after the actress tragically passed away in August 1962. Warhol revisited her image five years later, presenting 10 reproductions of the actress in high-contrast hues for his iconic “Marilyn Monroe” suite. Modeled after a publicity image of Monroe from the 1953 film Niagara, the portraits are a quintessential example of Warhol’s obsession with celebrity culture and repetition. The suite also marked a turning point in Warhol’s career as he embraced silkscreen printing—a technique that allowed him to mass-produce images of his muses, erasing the imperfections that made them human in the process. Warhol is often credited with making an idol out of Monroe, immortalizing her in youthful beauty for future generations.