Alexander
The Great

Warhol was obsessed with fame and the glamourous lives of celebrities. The artist would often host parties for A-list celebrities at his iconic New York studio, The Factory. Warhol produced portraits of many famous figures, including Elizabeth Taylor, Marilyn Monroe and Elvis Presley. As well as depicting celebrities, Warhol was also prone to producing portraits of historical figures, such as Chairman Mao, Beethoven and Goethe. The Alexander the Great collection can be seen alongside these other collections of notable figures who have significant historical and cultural legacies behind them which transcend the surface level fame of popular celebrities.

The Alexander the Great collection is notable as it is the only collection of portraits in which Warhol uses a classical sculpture as his subject. Warhol tended to use famous paintings of his subjects as the base for his prints which he would then modify by adding blocks of colour and graphic lines. The prints in this collection are steeped in art history and they engage with themes of antiquity by maintaining the essence of the bust’s original bronze material.

The interaction between the classical bust and modern vivid colours and graphic lines captures Warhol’s growing interest in exploring the intersections between the past and present. In the 1980s, Warhol started depicting older subjects, such as historical figures or celebrated masterpieces. These subjects contrast with his depictions of commercial goods, such as those in the Ads collection. Notable collections that explore historical periods include Details of Renaissance, Reigning Queens and Cowboys and Indians. Warhol rendered these classical subjects in his highly contemporary Pop Art style, blurring the boundaries between past and present and transforming these symbols of the past into 20th century Pop icons.

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