Marilyn by James Rosenquist in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, March 2008

James Rosenquist, American, born 1933
Marilyn, 1974
Lithograph

Accession # 1977.574.6

This print replicates the composition of Rosenquist's much larger canvas "Marilyn Monroe I" (1962 MoMA), which was painted soon after the actress' death. Monroe's face was well-known from her numerous appearances on screen, television, and in the press, but here Rosenquist makes us look closely at her features anew by partially distorting them with inversions, fragmentations, and overprinting. Superimposing her name (in the center of the sheet) with the script logo for "Coca-Cola" (written upside down), he not only reflects on her iconic status but also suggests she, like the soda was a commodity for public consumption.

Text from the Metropolitan Museum of Art label.