Where Is Marilyn Diptych? See It at Tate Modern, London

Q: Why did Warhol make a diptych?

The two-panel format references religious altarpieces. Warhol presents Marilyn as a modern saint. The color/monochrome contrast suggests life fading into death.

Q: Why does the right panel fade?

The silkscreen process naturally degraded with repeated use. Warhol exploited this, letting Marilyn's image fade and disappear, evoking her death and the mortality of celebrity.

Q: What photo did Warhol use?

Warhol used a publicity still from Niagara (1953). He cropped and repeated this single image throughout his Marilyn series, making it iconic through repetition.

Andy Warhol created the Marilyn Diptych in 1962, shortly after Monroe's death. Fifty images of Marilyn (based on a publicity still) repeat across two canvases. The left panel glows with vivid color; the right fades into ghostly black and white.

The format echoes religious altarpieces. Color represents life and celebrity; monochrome suggests death and fading memory. The silkscreen process produces variations in each image, with some nearly disappearing. It's one of the defining works of Pop Art. It hangs at Tate Modern.

The two-panel format references religious altarpieces. Warhol presents Marilyn as a modern saint. The color/monochrome contrast suggests life fading into death.

The silkscreen process naturally degraded with repeated use. Warhol exploited this, letting Marilyn's image fade and disappear, evoking her death and the mortality of celebrity.

Warhol used a publicity still from Niagara (1953). He cropped and repeated this single image throughout his Marilyn series, making it iconic through repetition.

Marilyn Diptych

Details

Where to See It

The Artist

Also at Tate Modern, London

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About Marilyn Diptych

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