Shot Marilyns
By Andy Warhol, 1964
Few images capture the spirit of pop art quite like Andy Warhol's "Marilyn" series. Created in 1964, these portraits are based on a publicity photo from Marilyn Monroe's 1953 film "Niagara." Warhol made them shortly after the actress died in 1962, and he repeated her face again and again using a printmaking technique called silkscreen. The bright, mismatched colors, the green skin, the orange hair, the electric backgrounds, turn a familiar celebrity into something bold and almost cartoonish.
The nickname "Shot Marilyns" comes from a strange real-life moment. In 1964, a visitor to Warhol's studio named Dorothy Podber asked if she could shoot the paintings, and Warhol agreed, thinking she meant take photographs. Instead, she pulled out a gun and fired a bullet through a stack of the canvases. The damaged works were later repaired, but the dramatic name stuck.
What makes these pieces so interesting is how Warhol blurred the line between art and advertising. By treating Monroe's face like a product on a factory line, he raised questions about fame, beauty, and how the public consumes the images of famous people. The repetition feels cheerful at first glance, yet there is a quiet sadness underneath, a reminder that behind the glamour was a real person whose life ended too soon.