Roy Lichtenstein (1923–1997) was one of the most famous Pop artists, modern artists who appropriated mass-produced items of popular culture into their work. In the case of Lichtenstein, some of his most famous (and most valuable) works of art were those done in a period between 1963 and 1965, when he adapted panels from comic books of the era into large paintings. Lichtenstein would even paint the “Ben-Day dots” that made up the cheap color-printing process of comic books of that time (if you look very closely at a comic book page, you can see that the colors are formed by the placement of tiny multicolored dots). A painting from this era sold for more than $40 million in 2010! Here are six comic book panels and the Lichtenstein paintings based on them.
1 Tony Abruzzo’s opening page of Secret Hearts #83 from 1962.
2 A panel by Irv Novick (who had actually been in the military during World War II and reportedly got Lichtenstein a job with him, using their art abilities for the military) in All-American Men of War #89 from 1961.
3 Another panel by Tony Abruzzo in Secret Hearts #83 from 1962.
4 A panel by Russ Heath in All-American Men of War #89 from 1961.
5 A panel by Dick Giordano in Strange Suspense Stories #72 from 1964.