Roy Lichtenstein’s worldwide fame is based on the value-free presentation of well-known comics. In the early 1960s, he caused a sensation in the art world for the first time with his own benday dots technique, the bright colours and thick black contours. Lichtenstein’s works are the symbol of everyday life in the US in the 1960s: Chewing gum, the Vietnam War, stars and tears. Especially female comic figures in tragic situations remained one of the artist’s favorite motifs. But Roy Lichtenstein also alienated works of art by Cézanne, Matisse and Picasso – also in his famous grid style. He also created numerous sculptures and, shortly before his death, was intensively engaged with Chinese landscapes (Landscapes in Chinese Style).
Roy Lichtenstein’s paintings are regularly traded at auctions at top prices. Especially the comic pictures with the speech bubbles are in demand. The previous auction record for Roy Lichtenstein was reached in November 2015 with a price of 95,365,000 dollars at Christie’s New York for the work “Nurse 1964”. It was originally entitled Frightenedness and was in the collection of some of the most famous art collectors, including Leon Kraushar and Karl Ströher.
The most famous original prints include “Shipboard Girl”, “Crying Girl” and “Nude reading”.
1923 born in New York, USA
1937 enrolled for Saturday courses at Parsons School of Design, New York, USA
1940 Studies at the Art Students League, New York
1943 enlisted in the US Army
1949 MFA, Ohio State University, Columbus, USA
1995 National Medal of the Arts
1996 Honorary doctorate from George Washington University, Washington, D.C.
1997 died in New York
Exhibitions (selection)
2021 Parrish Art Museum, Water Mill, Long Island, New York, USA
2015 Open Water, Gallery Ludorff, Düsseldorf, Germany
2014 Roy Lichtenstein, Ronald Feldman Fine Arts, New York, NY, USA (solo)
Roy Lichtenstein: Reflections on Pop, David Benrimon Fine Art, LLC, New York, NY, USA (solo)
2013 Pop Art Accrochage, Gallery Frank Fluegel, Nuremberg, Germany
Word And Image, Hood Museum of Art, Hanover, USA
The 60s In The Guggenheim Collections: From Informel To Pop Art, Peggy
Guggenheim Collection, Venice, Italy
2012 Roy Lichtenstein, The National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C.
Pop remix, QUT Art Museum, Brisbane, Australia
Roy Lichtenstein: A Retrospective, The Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, USA
Roy Lichtenstein, The University of Lethbridge Art Gallery, Lethbridge, Canada
The 1960s, The University of Lethbridge Art Gallery, Lethbridge, Canada
2011 Roy Lichtenstein, Gallery Tagboat, Tokyo, Japan
Entablatures, Paula Cooper Gallery, New York, USA
Roy Lichtenstein: Black & White 1961 – 1968, Albertina, Vienna, Austria
2010 The Robert and Jane Meyerhoff Collection: Selected Works, National Gallery of Art Washington, D.C. (solo)
Roy Lichtenstein: Meditations on Art, Museo Triennale, Milan, Italy (solo)
Roy Lichtenstein: Still Lifes, Gagosian Gallery, New York, USA (solo)
Roy Lichtenstein: Art as Motif, Museum Ludwig, Cologne, Germany (solo)
2009 Lichtenstein: in Process, Dixon Gallery and Gardens, Memphis, USA
2008 Love. Love. Couples, Gustav-Lubcke-Museum, Hamm, Germany
Ruscha and Pop: Icons of the 1960s, Hood Museum of Art, Hanover, USA
2007 Art Market Now, The Columns, Seoul, Korea
Pop Art Portraits, National Portrait Gallery, London, England
2006 Picasso to Pop: Aspects of Modern Art, The Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art, Hartford, USA
2005 Pollock To Pop: America’s Brush With Dali, Salvador Dali Museum, St. Petersburg, USA
2004 Reina Sofía, Roy Lichtenstein, Madrid, Spain (solo)
Hayward Gallery, Roy Lichtenstein, London, England (solo)
Kunst Haus, International Exhibition of Modern Art and the Museum of Modern Art, Dresden, Germany
Albertina, Pop Art & Minimalism, Vienna, Austria
New National Gallery, The MoMA, Berlin, Germany
2003 Roy Lichtenstein, BA-CA Kunstforum, Vienna, Austria (solo)
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, USA (solo)
NRW-Forum, AUTO-NOM, Dusseldorf, Germany
Museum for Art and Trade, Hamburg, Germany
Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, USA
Museum kunst palast, Düsseldorf, Germany
Guggenheim, Bilbao, Spain
2002 Kiasma Museum of Contemporary Art, Helsinki, Finland (solo)
Museum of Modern Art, Frankfurt, Germany (solo)2001
Mitchell-Innes & Nash, New York, USA (solo)
2000 Paula Cooper Gallery, New York, USA (solo)
1999 Lawrence Rubin, Zurich, Switzerland (solo)
Bass Museum of Art, Miami, USA (solo)
San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, USA (solo)
1998 Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney, Australia (solo)
1994 Roy Lichtenstein: Retrospective, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, USA (solo)
1993 Gallery Friebe, Lüdenscheid, Germany (solo)
1987 Contemporary Arts Museum, Houston, USA (solo)
1975 Centre national d’art contemporain, Paris, France
National Museums Prussian Cultural Heritage, Berlin, Germany
1972 Contemporary Arts Museum, Houston, USA
1969 Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, USA
1967 Pasadena Art Museum, Pasadena, USA Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, Netherlands
1966 Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, USA
1964 Gallery Ileana Saturday, Paris, France
1962 Leo Castelli Gallery, New York, USA New Realists, Sidney Janis Gallery, New York, USA New Painting of Common Objects, Pasadena Art Museum, Pasadena, USA