Modular Painting with Four Panels
The final work on this tour is from iconic Pop Art artist Roy Lichtenstein.
While working as an art teacher in New York in 1960, Lichtenstein was captivated by the beauty and impact of comic strips.
He was challenged by his son who pointed at a Mickey Mouse strip and teased him: "Dad - I bet you can't paint as good as that"!
Lichtenstein accepted the challenge and began replicating and blowing up comic strips to gigantic proportions.
He also chose to incorporate Ben Day dots - used by commercial artists to facilitate the printing process - into his work, signalling to viewers that these were mass-produced objects.
Lichtenstein's work was highly controversial.
For many, he was merely appropriating another artist's work.
However, for Lichtenstein, this was beside the point.
It could have been any other object.
His goal was to transform a mass-produced item into a work of art.
By choosing the comic strip - much like Duchamp had chosen the urinal - Lichtenstein was elevating the comic strip, imbuing it with meaning and beauty.
Like Duchamp, his art aimed to stimulate the mind.
Lichtenstein is one of the most famous and recognisable American artists of all time.
One of his paintings recently sold for $165 million.
That's it for our tour of Pompidou. We hope you enjoyed it! For your next exploration, why not try a tour of Pompeii?
