© Gotfryd, Bernard, photographer, 1969. Roy Lichtenstein
Roy Lichtenstein
American
1923 - 1997
"I'm excited about seeing things, and I'm interested in the way I think other people saw things."
Did you know?
In 2017, his painting Masterpiece (1962) sold privately in 2017 for around $165 million, making it one of the most expensive American artworks ever sold. What began as a provocative challenge to originality and “high art” has become a symbol of Pop Art’s lasting power—and its extraordinary appeal to top collectors.
Biography
Roy Fox Lichtenstein (October 27, 1923 – September 29, 1997) was a leading figure of the Pop Art movement, best known for his large-scale paintings inspired by comic books, advertisements, and mass-produced imagery. His art is represented in major museum collections worldwide, and he remains one of the most influential and recognizable artists of the 20th century.
Emerging in the early 1960s, Lichtenstein gained international recognition for works that employed bold outlines, flat colors, and his signature use of Ben-Day dots—a mechanical printing technique he meticulously replicated by hand. Through this approach, he challenged traditional distinctions between "high" art and popular culture, transforming seemingly banal source material into monumental, self-aware compositions. His work often explored themes of romance, war, consumerism, and art itself, frequently incorporating irony and detachment to comment on modern visual culture.
Beyond his comic-inspired paintings, Lichtenstein's wide-ranging career included sculpture, murals, prints, and reinterpretations of canonical works by artists such as Picasso, Monet, and Matisse. His best-known works include Look Mickey (1961), Whaam! (1963), and Drowning Girl (1963), which helped define his visual language and establish Pop Art as a dominant movement of the era.