Ingrid Bergman, Herself 313 by Andy Warhol is one of three color silkscreen portraits in his 1983 Ingrid Bergman portfolio. The work shows the Swedish actress in profile, her chin resting lightly on her hand, gazing upward and to the left. Her features are traced in crisp white lines against luminous planes of teal, lavender, orange, and deep green. The simple composition radiates calm and introspection. Warhol’s use of bright color blocks and graphic contouring gives the portrait a sense of timeless poise—half cinematic, half divine.
The Ingrid Bergman Portfolio in Context
Warhol created the series at the request of the Swedish art gallery, Galerie Börjeson, to commemorate Bergman as one of Sweden’s most prominent actresses. Printed by Rupert Jasen Smith in New York and published in 1983, the portfolio was completed after Bergman’s death the previous year. It became one of Warhol’s final movie-star series, continuing a theme that began in the early 1960s with works like Marilyn Monroe, Elvis Presley, and Liz Taylor.
The Ingrid Bergman portfolio is a celebration of the Academy-Award-winning star and features Bergman in two of her most iconic roles. Warhol’s The Nun is a portrait of a still from the film The Bells of St. Mary’s (1945), in which Bergman starred as Sister Superior Mary Benedict. Ingrid Bergman, With Hat is a still from Casablanca (1942), in which Bergman starred as Ilsa Lund. Ingrid Bergman, Herself 313 is distinct, since its source is not a film still, but a publicity photograph.
Warhol’s technique reinforces that balance between humanity and artifice. The bright white outlines sharpen Bergman’s features, while the color planes abstract her form, creating both distance and intimacy. The interplay of line and color, borrowed from his 1980s graphic style, recalls works like Mick Jagger and Reigning Queens. In all, Herself merges grace and modernity, encapsulating Bergman’s image as both star and symbol.
Ingrid Bergman, Herself 313 in Warhol’s Larger Body of Work
This portrait is a testament to Warhol’s enduring interest in celebrity, fame, and consumerism. It shows Bergman off-screen, not as a character, but as a cultural phenomenon. In other words, it is not a true portrait of Bergman as she existed to friends or family, but of Bergman as a cultural figure sold to the public. Warhol expresses a clear consciousness of fame’s ability to commodify the individual with this portrait. By presenting Bergman “as herself,” Warhol exposes the paradox of celebrity: even authenticity becomes performance.
For Bergman, this tension was deeply personal. Having played saints and heroines, audiences often projected moral purity onto her public image. The actress once remarked, “People saw me in Joan of Arc and declared me a saint. I’m not. I’m just a woman, another human being.” Warhol’s Ingrid Bergman, Herself responds to that dilemma, suggesting both admiration and detachment. The artist’s lens transforms her from a private individual into an emblem of idealized femininity and cinematic virtue.
When seen alongside The Nun, the contrast becomes clear. One work captures faith and devotion; the other presents introspection and self-awareness. Together they form a meditation on how stardom blurs the line between life and role. Ingrid Bergman, Herself 313 is not a portrait of the woman behind the fame—it is a portrait of fame itself, seen through Warhol’s unflinching Pop gaze.
Photo Credit: Portrait of Ingrid Bergman, 1945. Photo by by Ernest Bachrach.
