He once said: "I want to be as famous as the Queen of England. "So pop artist Andy Warhol would no doubt have been delighted to learn that some of his most iconic works will be hanging on the walls of one of the monarch's residences. Britain's Royal Collection Trust has snapped up four colour screenprints based on a photo of the Queen taken during her Silver Jubilee celebrations in 1977.
The tiara and jewels that appear in the inimitable protraits are dusted with crushed glass for a truly regal effect. All four pieces will form part of The Queen: Portraits of a Monarch exhibit which opens in November at Windsor Castle. The collection will mark the monarch's Diamond Jubilee year and will feature an array of portraits that capture artistic representations of Elizabeth II during her sixty-year reign. Officials didn't say how much was paid for Warhol's contribution, but auction house Sotheby's recently sold another set from the same limited edition print run for £109,250.
The pop art acquisition bucks with tradition and may surprise some, but Royal Librarian Jane Roberts is convinced of their value. "The Warhol prints of the Queen are in many ways the most important popular image of the Queen to be created by an artist print maker over the last few decades," she said. Andy Warhol was one of the most bankable artists of the 20th Century. His colorful style captured the zeitgeist of celebrity and American culture and immortalized icons including Elvis Presley and Jacqueline Onassis.