Jacqueline Kennedy II (Jackie II) by Andy Warhol captures one of the most haunting images in 20th-century art. The work presents a double portrait of the former First Lady during the funeral of President John F. Kennedy. Warhol sourced the image from the December 6, 1963 issue of Life magazine, which featured photographs documenting Jacqueline Kennedy’s grief. Rendered in a muted violet tone, this screenprint is part of Warhol’s Jackie series—a body of work that reflects the artist’s fascination with fame, tragedy, and the power of mass media.
Warhol’s Reflection on Tragedy and Media
Unlike the smiling First Lady the public once adored, Jackie II depicts a moment of private sorrow. Yet this moment was not private at all—the media’s coverage of the assassination and funeral was relentless. The rapid expansion of postwar media meant that millions witnessed Jacqueline’s grief in real time. Warhol recognized this shift, subsequently appropriating her image to explore how collective trauma and celebrity intertwined in modern culture. Through repetition, he transformed mourning into spectacle, revealing how tragedy itself becomes consumable.
Color, Tone, and Emotion
Although Jackie II belongs to Warhol’s tradition of celebrity portraiture, it diverges sharply from works like Marilyn Monroe, Mick Jagger, and Liz Taylor. Warhol stripped away his usual vibrancy, using a single somber hue. The soft purple wash emphasizes melancholy, while the lack of Warholian embellishment directs focus to Jacqueline Kennedy’s expression. By doubling her image, he alludes to the repetitive nature of news coverage and reinforces the consumerist ideal of “more is more.”
Jacqueline Kennedy II Within Warhol’s Broader Work
Stylistically, Jackie II aligns more closely with Warhol’s Electric Chairs and Death and Disaster series than with his Pop glamour portraits. Each of these works exposes the uneasy relationship between beauty, death, and repetition. In Jackie II, the fading tones and ghostly symmetry evoke both loss and permanence—a visual meditation on grief transformed by media into history.
To the public, Jacqueline Kennedy symbolized grace, intelligence, and style. Yet in Jackie II, Warhol stripped away that perfection to expose vulnerability. As a result, the work reminds viewers that even icons endure pain. Moreover, that media fascination can amplify and distort that pain. Warhol’s Jackie I and Jackie III complete the series, collectively forming one of Warhol’s most emotionally charged explorations of fame and tragedy.
Photo credit: Life magazine cover featuring John F. Kennedy’s funeral. Courtesy of the National Museum of American History.
