[no title] (from Marilyn, 10 prints), 1967
Screenprint on paper
91 x 91 cm
Tate

In Marilyn Monroe, Warhol found a fusion of two of his consistent themes: death and the cult of celebrity. The star died tragically in August 1962. In the following two years, Warhol made thirty silkscreen paintings of her, always using the same publicity photograph from the 1953 film Niagara. This set of screenprints was produced in 1967, in an edition of 250. The repeated image serves as the basis for a series of startling colour transformations.

[no title] (from Electric Chair, 10 prints), 1971
Screenprint on paper
90 x 122 cm
Tate

Warhol began making silkscreens of an empty electric chair in 1963, a time when the ethics of capital punishment were being fervently debated in America. Designed to make killing as efficient and impersonal as possible, the electric chair unites Warhol's fascination with death and with mechanised production. He presents these bleak images in a deadpan manner, without social commentary or moral consolation. The emotional distance is heightened by his audacious use of colour, which is at odds with his morbid subject matter.