Roy Fox Lichtenstein, born on October 27, 1923 in Manhattan (New York) in the United States, is one of the major figures of American pop art.
Two artists have had a great influence on his work. First of all Hoyt L. Sherman and Allan Kaprow. It was through contact with this happenings specialist that Roy Lichtenstein became interested in the pop movement.
For most of his works, he was strongly inspired by comics, which gave him a singular style.
He draws his inspiration from American comics (stylized characters, black outlines, saturated colors.) to realize his most famous works as ‘Look Mickey! (1961) or ‘Whaam!’ (1963), but he still retains a classic technique of oil painting. His paintings allow him to express his idea of American life, to reveal the cliché of media images and to ridicule an America that favors Superman and Marilyn Monroe rather than Apollo and Aphrodite.
Lichtenstein was charmed by the effectiveness of these popular representations where objects and passions were limited to an accessible and anonymous essential which seemed to him to have a vitality far superior to Abstract Expressionism, which was then sinking into academicism.
Identifiable at first glance (a frame made up of dots, lines and very colored flat areas), he wishes to provoke a visual shock by the strength of the dotted lines and by the pertinent use of a few dominant colors. His works are characterized by a sarcasm towards American symbols: blonde heroines with outrageous make-up, car crashes…