Andy Warhol

The Mark of the Beast

c.1985–6

© 2020 The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Inc. / Licensed by DACS, London

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Not on display

Artist: Andy Warhol 1928–1987
Medium: Acrylic paint and silkscreen on 2 canvases
Dimensions: Support, each: 510 × 408 × 19 mm
Collection: ARTIST ROOMS Tate and National Galleries of Scotland
Acquisition: ARTIST ROOMS Acquired jointly with the National Galleries of Scotland through The d'Offay Donation with assistance from the National Heritage Memorial Fund and the Art Fund 2008
Reference: AR00238

Online caption

During the mid 1980s Warhol returned to the newspaper adverts that had informed his paintings of the early 1960s. He created a group of works called ‘Ad’s and Illustrations’ that differed from his photographic screenprints and highly stylised images of celebrities. They are mostly black and white and were created by tracing the original adverts by hand, which creates a looser, graphic quality. During the 1980s the U.S.A. was still in the depths of the Cold War. Within this context three themes emerge in these paintings: war, death and religion. In this work ‘The Mark of the Beast’, or ‘666’ is branded on those who choose to worship the beast (Satan claiming to be God), over the true God. The opposing sides to the diptych (positive and negative) can be seen as echoing the Cold War conflict.