Dollar Sign Quad (F. & S. II.281)

Dollar Sign Quad (F. & S. II. 281) is part of the Dollar Sign series, one of Warhol’s most famous series. This series reflects Warhol’s love for money and wealth, intimately connected to his fascination with celebrity culture which has come to characterise many of Warhol’s prints depicting stars like Marilyn Monroe and Elvis Presley. Created during the Reagan era, a period known for its rampant commercialism, the Dollar Sign series demonstrates Warhol’s ability to identify and seize on the zeitgeist. Taking the symbol of US currency as the base for the series highlights the import that American society places on this simple symbol and what it represents. Painting a dollar sign, Warhol ironically draws attention towards the commodification of art and the intrinsic connection between art and money.

The print was made by experimenting with gestural lines, coloured layering and shading. This expressive technique captures Warhol’s artistic skill and draughtsmanship, which he had refined in these prints, produced late in his career as a Pop artist. Moreover, unlike other series, in Dollar Sign, Warhol departs from the use of an appropriated image, deciding to compose his own dollar sign from scratch.