Andy Warhol addresses his fascination with the extremes of social hierarchy in this series of Reigning Queens, specifically with the iconography of Queen Beatrix.  Andy Warhol Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands, from the Reigning Queens Series, 1985 is the perfect example of Warhol’s ability to transform the entire medium of traditional portraiture and translate it to contemporary, political relevance.  The scale of her is all-consuming; the size of this work is perhaps paramount to her grandeur and position in society. She is larger-than-life, a queen with respectable notoriety and a prominent history and social standing.

This portrait of Queen Beatrix also details Warhol’s playfulness with line and color while also exhibiting his view on conventional portraiture.  The deep shades of orange and blue create a captivating image of the Queen, perhaps transforming her from the view of the bourgeois upper class to a more palpable, everyday poster image we can all relate to. She now falls into the category of popular kitsch culture, while her elegant features continue to be accented by the drawn line of Warhol’s hand.

Frayda Feldman describes this series best:
“Warhol intended his portraits to be seen – as vanitas images, history paintings, or simply glamour poses – he did more than any other artist to revitalize the practice of portraiture, bringing renewed attention to it in the avant-garde art world.  He reflected the desires and dreams of a new decade and expanded his cast to include the latest characters from the world of sports, television, and politics and also dramatically escalated his portrait commissions” (Feldman 3^rd ed. pg. 22-3).

Created in 1985, Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands, from the Reigning Queens Series is a color screenprint on Lenox Museum Board with diamond dust and is hand-signed by Andy Warhol (Pennsylvania, 1928 - New York, 1987) in pencil in the lower right margin. Numbered from the edition of R30 in pencil in the lower right margin. Printed by Rupert Jansen Smith, New York and published by George C. P. Mulder, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.

Catalogue Raisonné & COA:
Andy Warhol Queen Beatrix from the Reigning Queens Series, 1985 screenprint is fully documented and referenced in the below catalogue raisonnés and texts (copies will be enclosed as added documentation with the invoices that will accompany the final sale of the work).

1. Feldman, Frayda and Jörg Schellmann. Andy Warhol Prints: A Catalogue Raisonné 1962 – 1987, 4th Ed. New York: Distributed Art Publishers, Inc., 2003. Three other color variants are listed and illustrated as catalogue raisonné nos. IIB 338.
2. A Certificate of Authenticity will accompany this work.

About the Framing:
This work is framed to museum-grade, conservation standards, presented in a complementary moulding and finished with silk-wrapped mats and optical grade Plexiglas.