Roy Lichtenstein was one of the most important representatives of Pop Art, which he established in New York together with Andy Warhol and several other artists. Worldwide fame is based on the value-free representation of well-known comics. In the early 1960s, for example, he caused a sensation in the art world for the first time with his own dot technique (benday dots), bright colors and thick black outlines. Lichtenstein’s works are emblematic of everyday life in the U.S. in the 1960s: Chewing gum, the Vietnam War, stars and tears. Above all, 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, worked intensively on Chinese landscapes (Landscapes in Chinese Style).
Roy Lichtenstein’s paintings regularly sell for top prices at auctions. The comic pictures with the speech bubbles are particularly in demand. The previous auction record for the most expensive painting by Roy Lichtenstein was achieved in November 2015 with a price of $95,365,000 (around 85 million euros) at Christie’s New York for the work “Nurse 1964”. It was originally titled Frightenedness and was in the collection of some of the most famous art collectors, including Leon Kraushar and Karl Ströher.
The square canvas from 1964, which is one meter high and one meter wide, was estimated at more than $80 million. “Nurse” was part of Christie’s special auction “The Artist’s Muse,” featuring paintings and sculptures created from the 1860s to the 2000s.
However, the most expensive painting Lichtenstein ever created may be his 1962 “Masterpiece,” which once belonged to Agnes Gund. Steven Cohen reportedly gave her $165 million for it at a private sale in 2017. Public auctions of Lichtenstein’s works have not come close to that sum. Still, the artist’s top ten public auction results place him among the best-selling artists at auction, and he is considered a trailblazer in the market.
Considered the second most expensive painting, the Pop artist’s “Sleeping Girl” sold for nearly $45 million in New York in 2012. The 1964 painting went for $44,882,500 (just under 35 million euros) at a Sotheby’s auction.
The signed lithographs and original silkscreens are therefore popular with art collectors worldwide, even if they are not unique.
Among the most famous original prints are “Shipboard Girl”, “Crying Girl” and “Nude reading”.
Vita:
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):
2026 Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY
2024 Museum Lichtenstein Centennial Exhibitions in Planning Stages, Albertina, Vienna, Austria
2023 Lichtenstein Centennial and Collection Installation, Tate Modern, London, England
2023 Andy Warhol to Damien Hirst – The Revolution in Printmaking, Albertina Modern, Vienna, Austria
2023 Roy Lichtenstein: Variazioni Pop, Palazzo Tarasconi, Parma, Italy
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
whatsapp
