Haystack #3, 1969: Print by Roy Lichtenstein

  • Haystack #3, 1969, is a lithograph and screenprint by Lichtenstein on paper with blue and black ben-day dots
    Haystack #3, 1969
    Lithograph and screenprint on BFK Rives paper, sheet: 52.5 x 78.1 cm
    Edition of 100; plus 10 AP, 1RTP, 1 PPII, 3 GEL, 1 C
    ©The Estate of Roy Lichtenstein
     
    BACK TO: HAYSTACK & CATHEDRAL SERIES
     
    Roy Lichtenstein’s Haystack #3, 1969, shifts the series into cooler tonal territory, using blue, black, and white to construct the image through Ben-Day dots. A dense blue dotted ground is overlaid with black forms punctuated by white dots, allowing the haystacks to appear through a reversal of tone and pattern.
     
    This inversion of light and dark creates a heightened sense of depth and visual instability, echoing the changing conditions explored by Claude Monet while translating them into a precise, systematised language. The result is a more atmospheric yet controlled composition, where perception is driven entirely by contrast, repetition, and optical effect.
  • "All my art is in some way about other art, even if the other art is cartoons.”
     
    - Roy Lichtenstein
    Roy Lichtenstein’s practice is deeply rooted in art history, consistently drawing on the visual language of earlier artists and movements to construct his own work. From Pablo Picasso’s Cubism to Claude Monet’s exploration of light and serial imagery, Lichtenstein reinterpreted canonical styles through the lens of Pop Art. Rather than copying, he translated these sources into a mechanical, graphic system using Ben-Day dots, flat colour, and sharp outlines, stripping away gesture and subjectivity.