Marilyn Monroe (Monroe) (F. & S. II.31): 1967, screenprint by Andy Warhol

  • Andy Warhol Marilyn F. & S. II.31 1967 screenprint yellow hair pink background Marilyn Monroe Pop Art print
    Marilyn Monroe (Monroe) (F. & S. II.31), 1967
    Screenprint on paper, 91.4 x 91.4 cm (36 x 36 in.) 250 signed in pencil and numbered with a rubber stamp on verso, plus 26 signed AP and lettered A-Z on verso
    Printer: Aetna Silkscreen Products, Inc., NY, Publisher: Factory Additions, NY
    © The Andy Warhol Foundation
    BACK TO: MARILYN SUITE
     
    In Marilyn (F. & S. II.31), Marilyn Monroe’s face is rendered in soft, pale tones that contrast sharply with a vivid pink background. Her platinum-blonde hair appears in bright yellow with deep black shadowing, creating a high-contrast frame that draws attention to her features. The eyes are accentuated with bold pink eyeshadow, while her lips are defined in dense black with areas of saturated pink, forming a striking focal point at the centre of the composition. The interplay of flat colour and shadowed detail gives the image a heightened graphic clarity, balancing delicacy with intensity and reinforcing the stylised, almost theatrical quality of the portrait.
     
    Warhol’s use of silkscreen printing allowed him to reproduce Monroe’s image across the ten prints of the Marilyn Monroe, 1967 portfolio, each varying only in colour while retaining the same underlying composition. This process reflects his interest in repetition as a means of exploring how identity is constructed through mass media. By presenting Monroe in multiple colourways, Warhol suggests that her image is not fixed but endlessly adaptable, shaped by perception and reproduction. In this sense, each print becomes a variation on the same persona, echoing how Monroe herself was seen differently by audiences, studios, and the press.
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  • "Everyone needs a fantasy." 

     

    - Andy Warhol

    Andy Warhol began working with silkscreen printing in 1962, the same year Marilyn Monroe died, a moment that had a profound impact on his practice. Monroe’s death was widely reported across newspapers and television, making her image one of the most circulated in American media at the time. Warhol seized on this overlap between personal tragedy and mass exposure, using the silkscreen process to translate a publicity still from the 1953 film Niagara into a repeatable image. The technique allowed him to mimic the look of mechanically reproduced photographs, aligning his work with the visual language of advertising and print media.