Red Disaster
Andy Warhol
(American, 1928–1987)
1963, 1985
Medium/TechniqueSilkscreen ink on synthetic polymer paint on canvas
DimensionsTwo panels, each 236.2 x 203.8 cm (93 x 80 1/4 in.)
Credit LineCharles H. Bayley Picture and Painting Fund
Accession number1986.161a-b
On View
Not on viewClassificationsPaintings
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In 1962 Warhol began reproducing newspaper images in a series of paintings he called Death and Disasters. The images include car wrecks, plane crashes, and, as here, an electric chair. But the series is not about violence so much as the power of the media and the way that, as Warhol said, “when you see a gruesome picture over and over again, it really doesn’t have any effect.”
Popularly known for his focus on consumer products and portraits of Hollywood stars, Warhol also acknowledged the images of death and destruction found in the media. He selected stark images of an electric chair, graphic car crashes, and police brutality during civil rights protests, which he then juxtaposed with planes of rich, brilliant color. Rather than enlarging and sensationalizing such provocative scenes, Warhol repeated a selected detail, making an image that could at the same time be appreciated for its abstract formal qualities while capturing the increasingly uneasy climate in America.
InscriptionsWritten in Warhol's own hand, upside down across the top of the reverse side of the painting:
1963 Andy Warhol 1963 Andy WarholProvenanceAndy Warhol Studio, New York; to MFA, Boston, 1986
Copyright© 2011 Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York.
