Mao II

Andy Warhol took the official portrait of Chinese leader Mao Zedong and gave it a wild makeover in this 1972 series. The source image was the same one that appeared in Mao's famous Little Red Book, but Warhol multiplied it across the canvas and drenched each face in clashing colors. Hot pink, electric yellow, green, and orange swipe across Mao's features like smeared cosmetics, and the scribbled, loose lines make it all feel handmade despite his usual silkscreen process.

Timing gave the work its punch. Warhol created these portraits around the moment President Nixon visited China in 1972, when the country was suddenly grabbing American headlines. By treating Mao the way he had treated Marilyn Monroe and Elvis, Warhol turned a feared political figure into just another famous face for sale. Slapping lipstick colors on a communist leader carried a real note of mischief, and it pokes at bigger questions about how images of powerful people get copied, packaged, and marketed. Some viewers find it funny, others find it uneasy, and that mix is exactly why the series still sparks conversation today.