Queen Elizabeth II died on Thursday, 8 September 2022, at the age of 96, in her home, Balmoral Castle. During her lifetime, she has inspired many artists and appeared in paintings, photos, novels, theatres, and films.
The Queen’s strong personality has a great influence on public life. She is often depicted as a constant symbol of authority amid the changing world. Queen Elizabeth II is known as an optimist, adaptive, persistent, responsible, loyal, and loves-peace person.
Pop artists also portray many sides of the Queen’s life and personality, both to respect and show a subversive message. From the iconic artist, Andy Warhol to the Nigerian contemporary artist, Oluwole Omofemi, capture the Queen’s figure in their pop artworks.
Pop art reaches its peak in the 1960s. Pop artists challenge the existing art approaches and traditional views on what art should be. Some traits of pop art from Richard Hamilton can help us to map what pop art is, as he says “pop art is popular, transient, expendable, low cost, mass-produced, young, witty, sexy, gimmicky, glamorous, and big business”.
Here we collect Queen Elizabeth II’s portrait in pop art:
1. Reigning Queens (1985) by Andy Warhol
Andy Warhol portrays the Queen in colorful silkscreen print based on one of her official state photos. Reigning Queens is a series consisting of 16 pieces of portraits of four ruling queens at that time: Queen Elizabeth II of England, Queen Beatrix of Netherlands, Queen Margrethe II of Denmark, and Queen Ntombi Twala of Swaziland. Warhol was interested in the Queen’s image because it is a kind of universal image, which was mass-produced and circulated on stamps and currency.
2. Queen Elizabeth II x Polka Dots Painting (2021) by Dane Shue
Dane Shue is a Dallas-based artist. Shue creates a portrait of the Queen that overlaps with a colorful polka-dots pattern. This portrait suggests young Queen Elizabeth II as a stunning popular figure around the world. Young Elizabeth immediately ascended to the throne after her father, King George VI died of cancer in 1952.
Dane Shue’s painting can be purchased in Saatchi Art gallery. https://www.saatchiart.com
3. Queen Painting (2021) by Cheeky Bunny
The artist mix images of Queen Elizabeth II with a Vogue cover magazine frame and bubblegum, looks like she blows bubblegum. This image is a kind of parody, that criticizes the Queen’s position related to social issues, such as inequality, poverty, and racism. Cheeky Bunny is a Slovakian contemporary artist, who claims themselves as a visual DJ who remixed images and genres.
https://www.saatchiart.com/art/Painting-Queen/1652229/8378997/view
4. Portrait of Queen Elizabeth/ Tatler’s Cover July issue (2022) by Oluwole Omofemi
Oluwole Omofemi’s oil portrait painting of the young Queen being the cover of Tatler magazine celebrates the Queen’s historic Platinum Jubilee. Omofemi is a Nigerian contemporary artist who explores themes of Black identity and women’s power. The painting is based on a circa-1955 Queen’s portrait. The artist depicts the Queen in a flower dress pattern, with a bright yellow background. Omofemi has been inspired by the Queen’s capability and impact all over the world that has appeared since her young age. The artist also realizes to paint the Queen’s hair in black, to show her youth and power.
