Marilyn Diptych

Marilyn Diptych is a 1962 silkscreen painting by American artist Andy Warhol depicting actress Marilyn Monroe. Created shortly after Monroe's death in August 1962, the work consists of fifty repeated images based on a publicity still from the 1953 film Niagara photographed by Gene Kornman. The painting is divided into two adjoining panels, with brightly colored portraits on the left and fading black-and-white impressions on the right. The work is regarded as one of Warhol's most important paintings and one of the most influential works of Pop art. Critics and scholars have frequently interpreted the contrast between the vibrant colored images and deteriorating monochrome reproductions as a meditation on Monroe's public image and death. Originally purchased directly from Warhol by art collectors Emily Hall Tremaine and Burton Tremaine, the painting entered the collection of the Tate in London in 1980.