Roy Lichtenstein is one of the principal figures of the American Pop art movement, along with Andy Warhol, James Rosenquist, Claes Oldenburg and Robert Rauschenberg.
Drawing inspiration from comic strips, Lichtenstein appropriated techniques commercial printing in his paintings, introducing a vernacular sensibility to the visual landscape of contemporary art. He employed visual elements such as the halftone dots that comprise a printed image, and a comic-inspired use of primary colors gave his paintings their signature “Pop” palette.
Born and raised in New York City, Lichtenstein enjoyed Manhattan’s myriad cultural offerings and comic books in equal measure. He began painting seriously as a teenager, studying watercolor painting at the Parsons School of Design in the late 1930s, and later at the Art Students League, where he worked with American realist painter Reginald Marsh. He began his undergraduate education at Ohio State University in 1940, and after a three-year stint in the United States Army during World War II, he completed his bachelor’s degree and then his master’s in fine arts. The roots of Lichtenstein’s interest in the convergence of high art and popular culture are evident even in his early years in Cleveland, where in the late 1940s, he taught at Ohio State, designed window displays for a department store and painted his own pieces.
Working at the height of the Abstract Expressionist movement in the 1950s, Lichtenstein deliberately eschewed the sort of painting that was held in high esteem by the art world and chose instead to explore the visual world of print advertising and comics. This gesture of recontextualizing a lowbrow image by importing it into a fine-art context would become a trademark of Lichtenstein’s artistic style, as well as a vehicle for his critique of the concept of good taste. His 1963 painting Whaam! confronts the viewer with an impact scene from a 1962-era issue of DC Comics’ All American Men of War. Isolated from its larger context, this image combines the playful lettering and brightly colored illustration of the original comic with a darker message about military conflict at the height of the Cold War. Crying Girl from the same year featured another of Lichtenstein’s motifs — a woman in distress, depicted with a mixture of drama and deadpan humor. His work gained a wider audience by creating a comic-inspired mural for the New York State Pavilion of the 1964 World's Fair, he went on to be represented by legendary New York gallerist Leo Castelli for 30 years.
In the 1970s and ’80s, Lichtenstein experimented with abstraction and began exploring basic elements of painting, as in this 1989 work Brushstroke Contest. In addition to paintings in which the brushstroke itself became the central subject, in 1984 he created a large-scale sculpture called Brushstrokes in Flight for the Port Columbus International Airport in Ohio. Still Life with Windmill from 1974 and the triptych Cow Going Abstract from 1982 both demonstrate a break from his earlier works where the subjects were derived from existing imagery. Here, Lichtenstein paints subjects more in line with the norms of art history — a pastoral scene and a still life — but he has translated their compositions into his signature graphic style, in which visual elements of printed comics are still a defining feature.
Lichtenstein’s work is represented in the collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Museum of Modern Art, Tate Modern, and many others. He was awarded National Medal of Arts in 1995, two years before he passed away.
Find a collection of Roy Lichtenstein prints, drawings and more on 1stDibs.
Indian with Pipe
By Roy Lichtenstein
Located in New York, NY
This exceptional oil on canvas by master Pop artist Roy Lichtenstein is an exceptional and unique example of his early pre-pop work. It is signed by the artist, upper right. After m...
Canvas, Oil
$1,700
H 36 in W 12 in D 1.5 in
"It's the Rest of the World That is Moving" (2024) by Amy Hutcheson
By Amy Hutcheson
Located in Denver, CO
"He Opened His Hand And I Put My Stories Into It" (2024) is an original, handmade oil painting on canvas, by Amy Hutcheson, that depicts an abstract painting with colorful geometric ...
Canvas, Oil
$1,700
H 36 in W 12 in D 1.5 in
"He Opened His Hand And I Put My Stories Into It" (2024) by Amy Hutcheson
By Amy Hutcheson
Located in Denver, CO
"He Opened His Hand And I Put My Stories Into It" (2024) is an original, handmade oil painting on canvas, by Amy Hutcheson, that depicts an abstract painting with colorful geometric ...
Canvas, Oil
$2,800
H 30 in W 30 in D 1.5 in
Memory Machine: abstract oil painting w/ organic shapes & vivid colors on red
By Joseph McAleer
Located in Bryn Mawr, PA
This is an original oil on canvas painting depicting a system of vividly colored, patterned organic forms against a textured red background. It is signed, dated, and titled on the ba...
Canvas, Oil
$11,750
H 49 in W 45 in D 1.5 in
"The Guest", Large Figurative Abstract Interior Scene, Soft Vibrant Tones, Oil
By Maura Petersen
Located in Carmel, CA
Maura Petersen (American, born 1956) "The Guest" 2026 Acrylic paint on stretched canvas The artist signed the bottom right corner of the painting. "The Guest" draws the viewer into ...
Canvas, Stretcher Bars, Oil
$4,228
H 59.06 in W 59.06 in D 0.79 in
COWARD - Contemporary Modern Abstract Painting
By Agata Czeremuszkin-Chrut
Located in Hallein, AT
Agata Czeremuszkin-Chrut was born in 1983 in Czestochowa, Poland. She graduated from the Academy of the Fine Arts in Wroclaw (2008) with the Master degree in Painting. In 2007 she st...
Canvas, Oil
$3,500
H 39 in W 39 in D 1 in
"Intimacy with the Unknown" Abstract Oil Painting 39" x 39" in by Ahmed Dafrawy
By Ahmed Dafrawy
Located in Culver City, CA
"Intimacy with the Unknown" Abstract Oil Painting 39" x 39" in by Ahmed Dafrawy Dafrawy’s fine arts academic background started in 2014 when he received the certificate of drawing c...
Canvas, Oil
$49,000
H 75.6 in W 127.96 in
"WHITE (EQUALITY)" Oil Painting 75.5" x 128" inch by Charles Malinsky
By Charles Malinsky
Located in Culver City, CA
"WHITE (EQUALITY)" Oil Painting 75.5" x 128" inch by Charles Malinsky Artwork ships rolled due to its size. ABOUT THE ARTIST: Charles Malinsky is an internationally acclaimed Canadian painter. His artwork is represented in many distinguished museums throughout the world and has been featured in countless publications. His extraordinary achievements throughout his career have made him one of the most dynamic figurative painters working in the 21st century. Malinsky was born in 1956 in Yorkton, Saskatchewan, and grew up in the isolation of the vast Canadian prairies. He earned his diploma from the Alberta College of Art and Design in 1978. He then spent his early years in Calgary as a graphic designer in educational Television, winning several international awards from the small, obscure station. Malinsky states, "The shear good fortune to be taken under the wing of a small group of the most talented and creative individuals I’ve encountered in my entire life, including Greg and Gary Crossley, Brian Huffman, John Blackie, and Peter Ivens was a revelatory experience for me." In 1984, he took a posting at ACAD where he taught drawing. It was at this point that Malinsky changed streams and devoted himself to pure art. It took seven years of dedicated studio work for him to find his voice as an artist. His first public exhibition at the Fran Willis Gallery in Victoria, British Colombia created a media sensation normally reserved for rock stars and garnered wide public attention. Malinsky’s richly complex, layered visual narratives are emotionally clear and accessible. His suburban prairie upbringing provided him with a backdrop of physical and social isolation, obsessed with image over content. His early work thus became focused on the rift between what was experienced and what could not be said. Malinsky’s first exhibitions in the early ’90s, during a time when figurative painting was not considered a legitimate, cutting-edge genre for art, flew in the face of the self-created, intellectual elitism of the deconstructionist movement of the time by creating complex, rich, layered narratives accessible through his figurative approach. He first received critical attention for depicting the dark, disturbing undercurrents of mainstream life, eloquently communicated to a popular reception through his figurative approach. In 1998, Malinsky left the comfortable confines of his Calgary studio and his posting at ACAD to take on the International art world. He established a base in Madrid, Spain, and began showing successfully throughout Europe as well as the United States. Malinsky’s paintings and drawings have been the subject of numerous solo and major group exhibitions and his work is represented in many museums, as well as prestigious private and corporate collections, including Fundació de les Arts i els Artistes, Barcelona, Spain(5 works), Collection of the Victoria College of art, Victoria British Colombia, Canada, Nickel Arts Museum, Calgary, Alberta, Canada, Michael Williams Collection, University of Victoria, Victoria, British Colombia, Canada(18 works), Permanent collection of the Gallery of Greater Victoria, Victoria, British Colombia, Canada, Seymour Art Gallery, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, Alberta Foundation for the Arts, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. His work can also be found in the private collections of notable celebrities such as Dr. Dre, Phil Everly...
Canvas, Oil
$3,150
H 14 in W 12 in D 2 in
Abstract Oil on Canvas Modern Gestural Figurative Woman Nude blue
By Jessica Benjamin
Located in ALCOY/ALCOI, ES
The Bather Description: Oil on canvas, blue, figurative, nude, abstract, gestural, modern In this vibrant oil painting Jessica Benjamin captures a private moment depicted throughout art history. Through expressive brushwork, and use of color, this painting has a modern vitality that builds upon this artistic tradition. Jessica Benjamin was born in Bloomington, IL and graduated from the New York Academy of Art with his MFA in 2014. Her paintings have been featured on the cover and interiors of three albums by Wynton Marsalis...
Canvas, Oil
$3,950
H 43 in W 35 in
"Spellbound" Oil Painting 43" x 35" inch by Anastasiia Danilenko
By Anastasiia Danilenko
Located in Culver City, CA
"Spellbound" Oil Painting 43" x 35" inch by Anastasiia Danilenko Ships rolled in a tube Anastasiia Danilenko is an artist and graphic designer. But the area of her occupation is p...
Canvas, Oil
$5,884
H 59.06 in W 70.87 in D 0.79 in
HUG - Contemporary Modern Abstract Painting, Large Format
By Agata Czeremuszkin-Chrut
Located in Hallein, AT
Agata Czeremuszkin-Chrut was born in 1983 in Czestochowa, Poland. She graduated from the Academy of the Fine Arts in Wroclaw (2008) with the Master degree in Painting. In 2007 she st...
Canvas, Oil, Acrylic
$1,400
H 7.1 in W 9.45 in D 0.79 in
"Team II" (2024) By Andreas Claussen, Original Oil Painting on Canvas
By Andreas Claussen
Located in Denver, CO
"Team II" is an evocative piece from Andreas Claussen that depicts an abstract scene of an astronaut and a flamingo. Andreas Claussen (b. 1988, Hanover, Germany) is a pioneering oi...
Oil, Canvas
$4,228
H 59.06 in W 59.06 in D 0.79 in
Rose Sheet / Red Pillow - Contemporary Modern Abstract Painting
By Agata Czeremuszkin-Chrut
Located in Hallein, AT
Agata Czeremuszkin-Chrut was born in 1983 in Czestochowa, Poland. She graduated from the Academy of the Fine Arts in Wroclaw (2008) with the Master degree in Painting. In 2007 she st...
Canvas, Oil, Acrylic
Indian
By Roy Lichtenstein
Located in New York, NY
This oil on canvas by master Pop artist Roy Lichtenstein is an exceptional and unique example of his early work. It is signed and dated in oil, lower left recto. After moving to Cl...
Canvas, Oil
