‘Details of Renaissance Paintings’ (Sandro Botticelli, Birth of Venus, 1482), 1984

(one plate; see F. & S. IIB.316-319)
signed and numbered lower left 64/70 Andy Warhol
screenprint on Arches Aquarelle paper
Image: 63.5 x 94 cm.
Sheet: 82 x 111.5 cm.

Published by Editions Schellmann & Klüser, Munich/New York in ed. of 70 plus 16 artist proofs

PROVENANCE:
Private Collection, USA.
LITERATURE:
F. Feldman & J. Schellmann, Andy Warhol Prints: A Catalogue Raisonné, New York, 1985, p. 99, no. IIB.316.

Warhol transforms Botticelli’s culturally ubiquitous image of the goddess emerging from the sea. As in his portraits of Marilyn Monroe and Elizabeth Taylor from the 1960s, Warhol draws on neon colours and stark composition to present Venus as a pop commodity. He crops the full source image to focus on the face and hair of the subject, surrounding her profile with a flat colour background.