Reverie by Roy Lichtenstein in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, March 2008

Roy Lichtenstein. American, 1923-1997
Reverie (from 11 Pop Artists portfolio, vol. 2, 1966), 1965
Screenprint, 195/200

Accession # 2007.49.562d

Comic-book inspired pictures made with flat primary colors and Benday dots have made Lichtenstein's work synonymous with Pop Art since the early 1960s. Like Warhol, he had experience as a commercial artist and graphic designer, which contributed to the "authentic" mass-media look of his prints and his paintings on canvas. With his characteristic sense of irony, Lichtenstein depicts an overwrought damsel singing about lost love in a dialogue bubble. As social commentary, it makes us question the pervasive role of the media– magazines, television, and advertisements– in shaping our emotional expectations.

Text from the Metropolitan Museum of Art label.