Ingrid Bergman complete portfolio by Andy Warhol is a suite of three silkscreen portraits—plus one trial proof—of Academy Award–winning actress Ingrid Bergman. Commissioned by Galerie Börjeson in Malmö, Sweden, the series was printed in New York by Rupert Jasen Smith and published soon after. Warhol completed the portfolio in 1983—one year after Bergman’s passing—as a tribute to one of Sweden’s most celebrated film icons.
A Late Masterpiece of Celebrity Portraiture
This portfolio is one of Warhol’s final series of movie star portraits, a genre that defined much of his career. In the early 1960s, he pioneered a new kind of celebrity portraiture. Some of his earliest and best-known subjects of this era included Marilyn Monroe, Elvis Presley, and Elizabeth Taylor. Two decades later, the Ingrid Bergman portfolio revisited that theme with greater refinement and emotional depth.
During the intervening years, Warhol’s interests broadened. By the 1980s, he had turned his attention to dignitaries, athletes, and intellectuals. At the same time, works like Camouflage, Space Fruit, and Shadows show a fundamental deviation from portraiture. Similarly, like his famous Flowers, they show his growing interest in pattern and surface. Seen against this backdrop, the Ingrid Bergman portfolio reflects both continuity and evolution. Returning to the movie star theme, Warhol’s Ingrid Bergman portfolio beautifully captures the actress and her legacy. At the same time, the artworks showcase his mature command of color, composition, and form.
Bergman’s Screen Legacy and Warhol’s Translation of Fame
The Ingrid Bergman Complete Portfolio celebrates Bergman’s illustrious career, featuring screenprints of the actress in her most famous roles.
In Ingrid Bergman, The Nun, Warhol used a still from The Bells of St. Mary’s (1945), depicting Bergman as Sister Superior Mary Benedict. Ingrid Bergman With Hat and its corresponding trial proof show portraits from the film Casablanca (1942), in which Bergman assumed the role of Ilsa Lund. Herself is a unique piece in this portfolio, as Warhol sourced it from a publicity shot rather than a still from one of Bergman’s many films.
Each portrait reflects how Bergman shaped mid-century ideals of femininity, grace, and emotional intelligence. Across the three works, she never looks directly at the viewer. As a result, her distant gaze evokes introspection and the mystique of classic cinema. Moreover, Warhol amplifies this aura with saturated colors, geometric structure, and fine contour lines. Together, the prints do more than record Bergman’s image. They interpret her cultural resonance—showing how Hollywood’s luminous women became modern icons.
Andy Warhol Ingrid Bergman as Part of the Artist’s Larger Body of Work
After the success of the Campbell’s Soup series in the early 1960s, Warhol turned to movie stars. He created portraits of Marilyn Monroe, Liz Taylor, Elvis, and Marlon Brando. These works defined his lifelong obsession with all things relating to fame and image-making. His fascination with pop culture spilled over into his creative output, which is evident by his prints of movie stars, Campbell Soup cans, and political figures. Consequently, his art is a visual recording of the culture of his time.
The Ingrid Bergman portfolio extends this legacy, but with a quieter tone. Here, Warhol’s Pop sensibility meets introspection: color and repetition give way to poise and reverence. As always, his art serves as both celebration and critique—reflecting a culture where celebrity and spirituality blur into a single, mesmerizing image.
Photo Credits:
- Andy Warhol stands in front of one of his paintings of actor Ingrid Bergman as a nun from the film The Bells of Saint Mary’s in 1984. © Getty Images
- Portrait of Ingrid Bergman, 1945. Photo by Ernest Bachrach.
- Andy Warhol stands in front of one of his paintings of actor Ingrid Bergman. © Getty Images
