The Gold Marilyn Monroe painting was painted in 1962 after the mysterious death of the famous celebrity; Mss. Marilyn Monroe. The painting is a Silkscreen ink on synthetic polymer paint on canvas. The renowned painting is the work of the prominent painter Andy Warhol. Since time immemorial I have heard much about this painting, it is appealing and glamorous that was what I was told. On an actual experience, I was glued at a glance of the picture; it is magnificent with undisputed beauty. I wholly concur with all who appreciated this piece of work before me. I was intrigued by the sentimental experiences provided by the colors of his Silkscreen print. On looking at the painting I was drawn to it; it the personality of our social setting. Despite the fact that the painting is more than fifty years old, the message it reveals is still pertinent and clear. Gold Marilyn Monroe painting has a timeless quality that is precious and engaging. Warhol’s work implies that there is a possibility of creating art that is not only beautiful but also academically interesting as well.
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The colors used are outstanding whereby he used gold color to form the background and surrounds of the face. I love the way Warhol used the colors to give and outstanding piece of art. The face is the only image on the massive canvas platform (6’11 ΒΌ” X 57″ (211.4 x 144.7 cm)). Warhol Canvas, Silkscreen ink are the main materials used in the painting. Warhol painted the image on the canvas to bring out an actual sensation or display of Marilyn Monroe; a goddess of sensuality.
The most extraordinary feature of Andy Warhol’s legendary painting of Marilyn Monroe’s face is how he forms his version of her. The face of Marilyn Monroe is very familiar and almost everyone knows how she looks like. Warhol succeeded wholly in conceptualizing a famous face and recreating it as par his own fashion. Such a piece of work is exceptional and for generations it will make the basis for upcoming painters.
The Gold Marilyn Monroe painting is a religious painting. Her face is depicted as a religious icon relating to the Christian history. The painter exhibited her as a matyr, someone who is adored or worshiped just like Mary mother of Jesus Christ. The gold Marilyn painting undermines the peculiarity between image and reality. The painting exists on its own simulacrum. The gold Marilyn is an exclusive sign among many; a symbol spotting and mirroring other signs in a non-ending motion. . The wise use of colors represents the life that Marilyn led in public. For in stance, she led a glamorous life spiced with parties, celebrities and wealth.
There are many symbols in the painting for instance, the whole picture is a sex symbol. Colors have been used cleverly by the artist to produce and display different meanings and symbols. The golden background is a symbol of lavish life that was led by Marilyn Monroe in relation to the Niagara movie in 1953 where she was the main character and the impact she left back on Hollywood and America at large as a star. The bright yellow golden color was used to represent her blonde hair. This symbolizes a beautiful lady that every guy will want to be with and a woman that all young ladies would like to associate themselves with.
The art work or the painting was drawn during the age of popular music, hence it a pop art painting. Warhol had an in drive to paint pictures of popular music celebrities. During 1962, pop music and dance were prevalent and hence they made the basis for the societal culture. The Gold Marilyn Monroe portrait is one of the pop art pictures painted by Warhol. The Gold Marilyn glorifies the popular culture and also from the critiques point of view it gives a notion of consumer culture that emerged in the US after World War II.
The gold Marilyn Monroe painting; to the creator it represents a Hollywood star that is adored by everyone. The artist wanted viewers of the painting to have understood that celebrities lead an expensive and lavish lifestyle. In general Warhol reflected the obsession that the society has for a celebrity. This is clearly portrayed by the expensive use of golden colors on a silkscreen; using the golden color as the background and only drawing a face at the centre of the big canvas clearly shows that Monroe was a public icon
The picture has a religious or spiritual context given that the picture was created just a few months after the death of Marilyn Monroe. She committed suicide; a mysterious circumstance. Personal life of Marilyn Monroe and her ultimate death made the painting more powerful and emotionally appealing to the public. The public was fascinated on the look of the painting and connected with it given that the portrayed resembled Monroe herself in the Niagara movie. She was an icon to many and Warhol displayed her at her best, young and beautiful. The picture gave the public an emotional attachment to the deceased Monroe. Death had snatched away one that they identified themselves with.
Warhol as an artist used exceptional techniques that had never been explored in the world at large. He used a collective combination of photography and painting to come up with a glamorous image using bright abstract colors. The silkscreened face image of a young and beautiful lady on a huge mass of a canvas was magnificently painted. In this section I am going to describe the use of each color, lines, and shades as used in the painting.
Warhol used golden brown color to form the background of the picture. The background is painted darkly and uniformly on the peripheries. Towards the center the color is much lighter compared to the outwards or sideways. At the center a much dork brown color is used forming a protruding rectangular platform that holds the actual face image. This technique makes the woman’s gaze to focus directly on the observer of the picture.
The painter also used golden yellow color, forming curly lines on the head of the picture to represent the beautiful and lovely hair of Marilyn Monroe. To right of the image, Warhol used brighter yellow color to give an impression that there was light coming from this side. To the left of left of the head; the golden yellow color is mixed with black color to give us a feeling of a shadow cast by head blocking the light that is coming from the right-hand side.
Consequently, Warhol used pink color to represent the face and the neck of the woman in the picture. The right cheek is more lightly compared to the left one. This implies that the light is coming from the right side of the picture.
The black color has also been used appropriately to represent different shadows in the picture. For instance, the black color below the chin gives us a natural sensation that we cannot see fully under the chin of a person when we look or view him/her from the frontal perspective. Nevertheless, the eyebrows have also been painted black by the artist to give us an actual sensation of a natural human being. The eyelashes are also painted black. Furthermore, below the nose, black color represents the voids that are found exactly below a natural human nose when he or she is exposed to light.
The artist wisely used maroon color paint the lips thus giving the picture a real and natural color of human lips with maroon lip-steak.
The white color between the lips of the woman in the picture represents white teeth, giving us an impression that the woman was smiling.
The green color just below the left cheek has been used to show us that the woman in the picture was wearing a green garment tied at the back.
The artist also employed the use of lines in the painting to present different aspects of his work. In reference to the picture; straight lines have been used to for a rectangular piece at the center forming the frame in which the actual image is drawn. The total picture fits proportionally in this rectangular frame.
He also used softly wavy or curl lines on the head to represent the rough texture of an individuals hair. The mixture of these curly lines and golden yellow color completely implies that this is real hair. The rounded curve like lines was used by the artist to represent eyebrows and eyelashes. He also employed the use of soft rounded lines to make up the nose of the picture. The top lip was drawn rather painted with a thin line while the lower lip is full as it is painted with a thick line.
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It is impressive and remarkable how the artist used light in the painting. To be more specific the use of light is the one that brings out the beauty and elegance of the whole image. The image is illuminated from the right hand side; this side is brightly painted. The voids on the picture, for example where the light does not reach, the artist used black color to bring out the actual sensation. The hair on the right part of the head is painted brightly with bight golden yellow color while the hair on the left side of the head is painted with dark golden yellow color. This is clear evidence that the light is coming from the right side of the picture while the shadow is on the left side.
The space in the picture, in my own opinion, Warhol did not maximally use the provided space. The image could have been painted to fill up the space available. He only used a fraction of the whole platform, only drawing a small face of a woman at the center of the massive canvas.
Warhol cleverly combined his colors in the image to come up with an outstanding painting. He is well organized throughout his work. He achieved his mandate, and I call upon all upcoming artists to learn and emulate his fantastic piece of art.
The main point that Warhol wanted observers of Gold Marilyn Monroe painting was that she was beautiful and a sex symbol to the society. He managed to achieve this brilliant theme by ingeniously using a combination of colors and lines to create a picture the glues an observer at a glance.
The artist wanted to remind his audience about the lavish and expensive lifestyle that Marilyn Monroe led while she was alive. The joyful mood that she used to have on several occasions especially in Niagara movie was completely revealed in the picture. Her smiles in the painting justify this analogy.
The only technique that Warhol used that am subjective with is the way he used space and some colors in the painting. The painting is more complex towards the center where he concentrates the whole picture in a small portion of space at the center. Secondly, the color used to represent the hair and the face is in contrast with the natural color of the face and hair of a human being.
The whole aspect of the image is great and good and in fact I recommend anyone who is interested in pop art to take gold Marilyn Monroe painting as the basis of his or her interest. I liked everything about the image at a glance, as the picture itself is appealing and beautiful. The only contrast is the use of pink and yellow color s to represent the face and hair respectively. The big lesson I learned from this particular piece of art is that one can use different colors to create an image that has a natural impact. Good thoughts always culminate into tremendous quality work especially in painting. You can capture many people, funs and credible clients with every beautiful work that you produce.
It is amazing how this work of art has taught me; good work can be admired a very long period of time. Good thoughts always culminate into tremendous quality work especially in painting; you can capture many funs and credible clients for the beautiful work you produce.
– Conclusion:
What connections do you see between the subject matter and techniques the artist has used? What mood does the artist after? HOw successful was the artist in expressing or interpreting that mood? What was your subjective reaction to the work? How well did you like it or not and why? What did you learn from this particular piece of art and experience?
The most extraordinary aspect to Andy Warhol’s famous painting of Marilyn Monroe’s face is how he forms his own version of her. Marilyn Monroe’s face is very recognizable, and almost everyone knows what she looks like. Warhol succeeds in taking a famous face, and recreating it according to his own style.
The first thing I see when I look at this painting is large areas of colors. I see a green background, bright yellow hair, a pink face, green eye shadow, yellow eyes, red lips, a green mole, and a red area that appears to be her shirt. The second thing I see when I look at the poster again is black. I see black shading in the hair and around the face, black shading that creates the eyes, eyebrows and nose, black shading in the lips, and a black mole inside the green one.
Another thing I notice about this painting is how it gets smaller and more complex in the middle. The green background is large and has almost no detail to it. Then the large area of yellow hair has black shading that gives it movement and dimension. Next, the eyes, nose, and mouth are created within the pink heart-shaped face. Warhol uses black shading to create the eyebrows and eyes. He gives Marilyn green eye shadow and paints yellow in her inner eye. Her eyelids and eyelashes are thick, as if she is wearing black eyeliner and mascara. Her little nose is also created with black shading, and her mole consists of a black dot with a larger green dot imperfectly surrounding it. Her lips are full and seductive, and it looks as though Warhol outlined and colored her lips in with red paint, and then proceeded to shade them inside with black. He also shades a lot along the left side of her face, into her red blouse.
I notice how Warhol balances these two opposites, color and black, perhaps to highlight the two facets of Marilyn’s life. The colors that he uses are not true to form, but it works regardless. No one really has hair that yellow, a face that pink, or lips that red. Also, it seems rare to wear green eye shadow that bright or have yellow eyes. The effect of this exaggeration of colors is that it makes Marilyn look cartoon-like, and almost not real. This represents Marilyn’s public life. Externally, Marilyn led a glamorous life full of parties, celebrities, and wealth, but that was fake and overdone, just like the colors. Internally, however, her personal life was full of scandal, deceit, and heartache. This private side of Marilyn Monroe is evident through the black that forms her eyes. Though her lips do give off a sexy feeling, the shading and detailing around her eyes tell a deeper story. She looks sad and hurt, as if she is yearning for someone to help her. It is quite impressive how Warhol manages to accomplish that without losing his signature pop art style of bright colors and animated images.
The message that I get from this piece is that nothing is ever what it seems. Warhol uses vivid colors and dark shading to emphasize this idea. The large areas of color symbolize a happy exterior. Things may seem to be wonderful and great on the outside, but when given a deeper look, everything has some black on the inside
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