Goethe, 1982

Based on the existing portrait of the influential German poet Johann Wolfgang von Goethe by painter Johann Tischbein from 1786/87, Andy Warhol’s Goethe series focusses on the literary figure’s head and removes him entirely from its pictorial context. With the help of the serial screen-printing process and the typically bright colours of Pop Art, Andy Warhol successfully catapulted Goethe into the 20th century and anchored him in the consciousness of broader sections of the population. At the same time, he seamlessly integrated the poet into his portrait gallery of prominent contemporaries such as Marilyn Monroe, Elvis Presley and Mao Zedong.