Andy Warhol Ingrid Bergman with Hat 315 is one of three screenprints from Warhol’s 1983 Ingrid Bergman portfolio. Bergman cemented her role as one of the greats in old-time Hollywood following her breakthrough role in the Award-winning film Casablanca alongside legendary actor, Humphry Bogart. Ingrid Bergman With Hat 315 depicts an image of her character Ilsa from the classic film. The three part series includes The Nun, which commemorates her iconic character as Sister Mary Benedict in The Bells of St. Mary’s; and Herself, showing Bergman beautifully dolled up for a publicity shoot. Ingrid Bergman with Hat typifies her powerful character in Casablanca and has since become as fortuitous as the film itself.
Ingrid Bergman With Hat 315 largely presents a primary color palette (red, blue, yellow), especially where the light hits. The image background is sky blue; the same shade as the shadows of her facial features. Bergman wears a wide purple hat with a shadowy navy underside, which sits on top of textured neon-yellow hair with olive green undertones. A deep red lip becomes the most pronounced feature against her white skin, matching the red of her textured blouse. Warhol accentuates the entire image by tracing red, brown, and yellow sketch lines around her formal features. Bergman stares diagonally out into the distance, so that the classically neutral pose matches the work’s classic color palette. In the entire Ingrid Bergman portfolio, this work may be the most quintessential example of Pop Art.
As an A-list actress, Bergman would become an ideal subject for Warhol, whose infatuation with celebrity figures never faded. A Swedish art gallery commissioned Ingrid Bergman to commemorate her life after she passed away a year prior. Ingrid Bergman With Hat 315 is stylistically similar to Warhol’s other celebrity series, especially his Marilyn Monroe portfolio. Warhol used uncomplicated shading and zealously colored both; their undeniable boldness certainly matches the beauty and personalities of the iconic women represented.
No one could have recognized how heavily Casablanca impacted Hollywood until years later. Come 1977, Casablanca was the most frequented movie on television (despite it having been filmed more than thirty years prior, during the midst of a war America had not yet entered). Bergman became a game-changing Hollywood celebrity by sporting a natural, almost makeup-free look for the film (despite protests from producers). Yet Ingrid Bergman With Hat better recognizes and commemorates an illustrious character who impacted the world with her journey of love, sacrifice, and doing what’s best for the greater good. These morals have influenced countless Academy-Award winning films.
Warhol’s posthumous collection immortalized her well into today’s day and age. Ingrid Bergman’s performance in Casablanca continues to be recognized as a prodigious role in one of the greatest films of all time. Ingrid Bergman, with Hat 315 is thus exemplary of Warhol’s innate ability to capture the elegance and prestige of his culture’s finest moments.
Photo Credit: Andy Warhol stands in front of one of his paintings of actor Ingrid Bergman. © Getty Images
