Pop Art pictures: The trivial and the everyday in art
Pop Art emerged as a response to the developing consumer society in the post-war period. Pop Art motifs are clearly structured and sometimes take up the everyday in an ironic way. Pop Art murals and decorative sculptures stand out and keep the art style alive.
What is Pop Art?
Popular Art, or Pop Art for short, is a popular art movement that has lost none of its topicality since its emergence in the 1950s and 60s. Pop art uses irony to critically scrutinize social phenomena. The style sees itself as a negative reaction to abstract, emphatically intellectual art.
The art movement consciously turns thematically to the trivial and everyday. Pop Art paintings on canvas, Pop Art portraits, Pop Art art prints and sculptures are often two-dimensional and lack depth. Colors are clearly delineated from one another. The primary colors red, yellow and blue as well as black and white were cleverly used by Pop Art artists in the early days to express the burgeoning optimism of the post-war era. These stylistic elements were retained in Modern Pop Art.
The Pop Art comic, for example by Carsten Breuer - from our collection - is a separate sub-category of this art movement. In it, shapes are outlined in black or figures have words placed in their mouths in speech bubbles. Surfaces are pixelated in some pop art paintings to create a dynamic in the depiction.
Origin and origins of Pop Art
The art movement first developed in the post-war period in Great Britain and the USA. From the 1960s onwards, pop art motifs spread throughout Europe. Although the name of the art form initially referred to the meaning of "bump" or "bang", over time it came to mean popular art in general.
Pop Art characteristics include a reference to Neo-Dadaism, which refers to everyday events. It contains elements of Dadaism, which is expressed in the rejection of the conventional in Pop Art murals and other works of art in the style. Thematically, Pop Art artists focused on historical events such as the Vietnam War, racism and rising drug consumption in the USA as well as the assassination of John F. Kennedy. The art movement was also a reaction to everyday life in the capitalist world, which was increasingly dominated by advertising.
Famous Pop Art artists
In Pop Art paintings, artists thematize social events in a unique way. Some art historians recognize Richard Hamilton as the father of this art movement. However, he himself always strongly denied this. Andy Warhol is undoubtedly a pioneer of the Pop Art movement. His alienated portraits of Marilyn Monroe and the Campbell's Tomato Soup pictures are well known. The works of the American artist Jeff Koons achieve sales in the millions.
Robert Rauschenberg 's Pop Art paintings focus on consumer objects, Jasper Johns achieved fame with his images of the American flag and Robert Indiana stood out with the iconic LOVE lettering he created for the Museum of Modern Art in New York. Michiel Folkers is a contemporary artist from Amsterdam. His modern pop art is characterized by urban influences and elements of street art.
Discover the artworks of Michiel Folkers in our collection.
Other notable artists in this style include Roy Lichtenstein, Claes Oldenburg, James Rosenquist, Tom Wesselmann and the sculptor George Segal.
Buy Pop Art pictures
You can find pop art pictures in our store. You can choose motifs from pop art murals that will set the tone in your living room. Are you looking for a pop art portrait or pop art pictures with images of women? Take a look at our extensive range and choose the right artwork for you!