Andy Warhol exhibition features artist’s wigs and Marilyn Monroe’s lips
Warhol had amassed more than 100 of the hairpieces by the time of his death in 1987.
Marilyn Monroe’s lips and Andy Warhol’s wigs are some of the highlights of a new exhibition at Tate Modern.
More than 100 works by the late pop art pioneer are on display.
They include several from his series on Monroe, painted a few months after the actress’s death following a drug overdose.
In Marilyn’s Lips – on display in the UK for the first time – he focused solely on the Hollywood star’s mouth.
Three of Warhol’s wigs are also on show in the UK for the first time.
The US artist had amassed over 100 of the hairpieces by the time of his death in 1987.
He began wearing them in the 1950s when he started losing his hair and the wigs featured in his self-portraits.
Other highlights on show include the 10-metre wide canvas Sixty Last Suppers.
Warhol died in his sleep, aged 58, while recovering from gallbladder surgery just a few months after completing the work.
Years earlier, in 1968, Warhol was briefly pronounced dead in hospital after being shot by Valerie Solanas, who felt that the pop artist had “too much control over (her) life”.
One room at the exhibition will be devoted to Ladies And Gentlemen, Warhol’s portraits of drag queens and trans women.
The exhibition will look at Warhol through a “new lens” – as a “shy, gay man from a religious, migrant, low-income household”, Tate Modern said.
His photobooth self-portrait and his images of pop stars Debbie Harry and Dolly Parton are also on display.
Tate Modern director Frances Morris said Warhol is “an artist who feels more relevant and influential today than ever”.
“He is one of the most recognisable names in the late 20th century but, in today’s climate, it feels important to take a more human and more personal look at somebody who is a very familiar artist,” she said.
Andy Warhol runs from March 12 to September 6 at Tate Modern, in partnership with Bank Of America.
