Name: Still Life With Picasso
Brand: Roy Lichtenstein
Rating: 5 (236 reviews)

Track auction value trend

The value of Roy Lichtenstein's Still Life With Picasso (signed) is estimated to be worth between £17,000 and £26,000. This screenprint, created in 1973, has shown consistent value growth, with an average annual growth rate of 7%. This work has an auction history of 13 total sales since its entry to the market in February 2006. In the last five years, the hammer price has ranged from £14,517 in June 2024 to £29,000 in June 2021. The average return to the seller for this piece is £20,758. The edition size of this artwork is limited to 90.

Meaning & Analysis

Being a central player of Pop Art, Roy Lichtenstein’s Still Life with Picasso of 1973 is bursting with stylised and brightly coloured elements. This screen print originated as a contribution to a collective portfolio titled Homage to Picasso. The publication contains works by countless contemporary artists and honours the life and artistic heritage of Spanish painter Pablo Picasso.

Putting his best foot forward, Lichtenstein supplies the print with his commercial style Ben-Day dots and primary blocks of colour, in order to deliver a vivid cartoon impression. Still Life with Picasso presents a varied and unpolished composition. Mimicking the simplistic drawing style of Picasso, a woman figure peers into the frame from the right, captured in thick black curving lines set against a white backdrop.

Selected pieces of fruit sit in the bottom left corner of the canvas. A jug holding paint brushes is situated towards the upper left margin, adorned by black and dark blue dots. Red and yellow stripes of colour pour into view from above. Lichtenstein’s Still Life with Picasso skillfully integrates the mechanical properties of screen prints with painterly gestures abstracted from art history. Moreover, he also initiates a playful, if unreconciled, conversation between his own art and Picasso’s life work.

Roy Lichtenstein, born in New York, 1923, is a seminal figure in the Pop Art movement, renowned for his comic book and advertisement-inspired artworks. His transformative journey from classical painter to Pop Art pioneer began with his iconic piece, Look Mickey, marking the fusion of painting with pop culture. Lichtenstein’s works, including Whaam!, Drowning Girl, and Crying Girl, blend parody and satire, challenging the boundaries between popular culture and ‘high art’. With over 5,000 pieces to his name, Lichtenstein’s enduring influence resonates in contemporary art, his works celebrated in prestigious institutions worldwide.