Kunstmuseum Basel
Until March 14, 2027

The Kunstmuseum Basel presents prints from all periods of pop-art legend Roy Lichtenstein’s (1923–1997) oeuvre. Many of the approximately 50 works have never been on public display. “Roy Lichtenstein. Sweet Dreams, Baby!” showcases a representative survey of Lichtenstein’s colorful and vibrant world. The exhibition sheds light on how the American artist became a pioneer of pop art (short for “popular,” in the sense of popular culture) in the 1960s with his catchy motifs, love of experimentation, and brilliant technique. With plenty of wit and irony, Lichtenstein transposed the visual language of consumer goods, advertising brochures, and store-window displays into visual art. The comic-book aesthetic, in particular, was a vital source of inspiration: enlarged details (close-ups), luminous colors, and Ben-Day dots became hallmarks of his art.

The New York art scene initially responded to pop art with shock, perceiving it as banal. Meanwhile, the familiar imagery of this new mode of creative expression appealed to a wide audience, in no small part due to the medium of printmaking and its reproducibility: Lichtenstein’s first prints featuring the comic-book aesthetic were posters and invitations for his exhibitions at the Leo Castelli Gallery in New York. They were printed inexpensively in large runs and made the artist a household name.

Lichtenstein’s interest in printmaking dated back to his student years. The exhibition includes six examples from the late 1940s and early 1950s that illustrate the rigor of his experimentation with various printmaking techniques early in his career. From the late 1960s onward, he collaborated with renowned printing studios, such as Gemini Graphic Editions Limited, Los Angeles; Tyler Graphics, Bedford, N.Y.; and Graphicstudio at the University of South Florida, Tampa. In close consultation with their staff, he produced technically masterful individual prints and series. “Portrait” (1989), for instance, was the result of an 18-step printing process. The combination of four different techniques—lithography, woodcut, screen printing, and wax printing, which was developed specifically for this project by Graphicstudio—produced exceptionally varied surface effects ranging from mat areas to glossy and iridescent spots to fluid-looking brushstroke motifs.

Over the course of five decades, Lichtenstein created over 350 screen prints, etchings, lithographs, woodcuts, and linocuts. In celebration of the artist’s centennial in 2023, the Roy Lichtenstein Foundation has given a total of approximately 100 prints to the Albertina in Vienna, the British Museum in London, and the Kunstmuseum Basel, establishing three reference collections in Europe. The Kunstmuseum received 33 works that showcase the full diversity of Lichtenstein’s oeuvre as a printmaker. These include printed “Paper Plates” (1969) as well as an unconventional reinterpretation of Vincent van Gogh’s “The Sower” (1985) and the monumental “Wallpaper with Blue Floor Interior” (1992).

The exhibition “Roy Lichtenstein. Sweet Dreams, Baby!” brings the public debut of this gift in Basel. It is rounded out by additional prints by Lichtenstein from the Kunstmuseum’s Kupferstichkabinett, which began acquiring his work in the 1960s, as well as a loan from a private collection (“Entablature VI,” 1976), and the paintings “Hopeless” (1963) and “Mirror #2” (1970), both of which are on permanent loan to the Kunstmuseum.

https://kunstmuseumbasel.ch/en/exhibitions/2026/roy-lichtenstein-sweet-dreams-baby

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