Marilyn Diptych, 1962

Narrator: In 1962, Warhol began using photos in his silkscreen process—something that allowed him to make images that were totally of-the-moment, and seemed to capture the feeling of the culture. He began making paintings of Marilyn Monroe shortly after her death by overdose—always using the same publicity shot of her as a young, vital actress. There’s a tension in works like this one: they feel poignant and special on the one hand, and factory-like on the other.

Michael Lobel: When you look at some of Warhol's silkscreen paintings of celebrities, like Marilyn Monroe or Elvis Presley, you see that he's presenting these celebrities in the same form that he often chooses to present consumer objects. 

Narrator: Professor Michael Lobel.

Michael Lobel: In the Hollywood studio system there were departments for makeup and costume and diction. Hollywood celebrities were packaged in many of the same ways we come to expect mass-produced objects and consumer goods are packaged in our culture.