Marilyn
James Francis Gill
American, born 1934
1962
A three-panel oil painting titled "Marilyn" that repeats a famous film-star image in slightly different poses to examine the performance and fabrication of celebrity.
You’re struck first by the vivid red dress repeated across three figures, each rendered with loose, nervous brushwork against a row of smaller monochrome headshots, so the single person reads as both glamourous icon and fragmented image.
Created in 1962, the work stands with early Pop Art’s engagement with mass media and mechanical reproduction, using repetition and variation to reveal how public identities are constructed and consumed.
Medium
Oil on board, three panels
Dimensions
Each 48 x 35 7/8" (122 x 91 cm)
Classification
Department
Credit
Gift of D. and J. de Menil
Accession
72.1963.a-c
Palette
Art Terms
Exhibitions
