Marilyn Monroe 22 by Andy Warhol is a screenprint from his 1967 Marilyn Monroe series. Often called the “red” or “purple-red” Marilyn, this portrait renders Monroe’s face in saturated orange-red, edged with cooler violet and blue shadows. Her lips appear chartreuse-yellow, sharply outlined against the warmer tones of her skin. Pale blue and lavender define the hair, while the eyes are reduced to dark, graphic shapes. A flat, hot pink background isolates the head, intensifying the contrast and flattening depth. Overall, the palette feels heated and artificial, creating a charged, almost volatile surface rather than a naturalistic likeness.
The Marilyn series remains one of Warhol’s most iconic achievements. Like his Campbell’s Soup Cans, these works helped define Pop Art and secure Warhol’s place at the center of the movement. Here, Monroe appears not simply as a movie star, but as an image shaped by desire, repetition, and longing.
Color as Emotion and Symbol
Each Marilyn in the series shares the same source image, yet no two feel the same. In Marilyn Monroe 22, the red and purple palette introduces heat and intensity. The colors suggest passion, danger, and vulnerability all at once. At the same time, the flat application of pigment removes depth. Marilyn glows, but she also feels distant. Warhol’s use of color transforms emotion into surface. Her face becomes both expressive and sealed off. Beauty remains, yet it is suspended, fixed in time.
Marilyn Monroe: Death, Repetition, and the Birth of an Icon
Warhol first turned to Marilyn Monroe after her death in 1962. In the weeks that followed, he created Marilyn Diptych, a work that introduced repetition as both tribute and erasure. What began as a memorial soon became an ongoing obsession.
For every Marilyn portrait, Warhol used the same publicity photograph taken by Gene Korman for the 1953 film Niagara. By repeating this image, he questioned how identity survives mass reproduction. The practice also stirred controversy. Critics debated the ethics of appropriation. Still, the series endured, gaining both notoriety and acclaim.
Fame, Industry, and the Manufactured Self
Postwar industrial culture fascinated Warhol. He called his studio “The Factory” and embraced screenprinting for its mechanical precision. In producing hundreds of Marilyns, he mirrored the systems that created celebrity itself. Monroe becomes a product of repetition, polished and endlessly consumable.
In Marilyn Monroe 22, her flawless surface hides fragility. The image suggests perfection, yet something human has slipped away. She is no longer a person, but an idea shaped for public desire.
Marilyn Monroe 22 in Warhol’s Larger Body of Work
Warhol’s portraits of celebrities—from Judy Garland and Mick Jagger to Muhammad Ali and Jackie Kennedy—explore the uneasy bond between fame and commodification. Marilyn stands at the center of this inquiry.
Within that constellation, Marilyn Monroe 22 feels especially charged. Its color recalls a setting sun, radiant yet fleeting. Like Monroe herself, the image burns brightly while quietly signaling its own disappearance. Warhol captures that tension with rare clarity, securing Marilyn’s place as both a cultural dream and a lasting emblem of Pop Art.
Photo Credit: Warhol Holding Marilyn Acetate I – 1964. Photo by William John Kennedy.
