Marilyn Monroe 11.27 - This is not by me

by Andy Warhol

Screenprint on paper by Andy Warhol, Marilyn Monroe 11.27 - This is not by me represents the American celebrity Marilyn Monroe, one of the artist's favorite subjects transformed by Warhol into an icon of mass culture and American society. The actress, who tragically died in 1962, is caught in the foreground, with her gaze turned towards the viewer.

Choosing a subject well known to the public, Andy Warhol starts a process of "democratization" of art. The purpose of Pop Art is in fact to create an art accessible by everyone, an art that speaks about contemporary American society.

The work measures 84,5x84,5 cm and is hand-signed by the artist.

The work is signed in the original on the back by Andy Warhol and it is signed "this is not by me, Andy Warhol".

In 1970 the well-known Belgian printing house Sunday B. Morning, founded by some of Warhol's friends, decided to launch a reprint for Europe of the first "Marilyn” series, which had just had an incredible international success.

Warhol, however, refuses to collaborate for that new series. Sunday B Morning doesn't give up and starts the production anyway, putting a stamp on the back with the words: "Published by Sunday B. Morning" and "Fill in your own signature".

Faced with this initiative and given the great friendship that bound him to the founders of the print shop, Warhol decided in the 1970s to sign some of these works on the back with the words “This is not by me, Andy Warhol”: an ironic reference to the authorship and authenticity of the work. He would later decide in the 1980s to produce a similar series dedicated to the European market.

Thus was born the series This is not by me to which this work belongs, in limited edition, not numbered and hand-signed.