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Toward the start of the swinging sixties, Roy Lichtenstein created two versions of this painting.
Explore why Roy Lichtenstein’s 'In the Car' became an iconic pop art masterpiece, from controversy to cultural impact.
Key Takeaways
- 'In the Car' became iconic due to its bold style, cultural symbolism, and initial controversy.
- Pop art’s reaction to abstract expressionism helped redefine American art in the 1960s.
- Lichtenstein’s technique of enlarging and simplifying comic imagery created a new art form blending popular culture with fine art.
- The painting’s widespread influence extends beyond galleries into advertising, fashion, and digital media.
- Art’s impact and reception evolve over time, with controversy often giving way to lasting appreciation.
Summary
- Roy Lichtenstein created two versions of 'In the Car' in the early 1960s, with the larger version bought by the National Galleries of Scotland for £100,000.
- The purchase sparked controversy due to the high cost and the painting’s comic book origins.
- 'In the Car' is a large-scale recreation of a small comic panel from DC Comics’ 'Girl’s Romances', exemplifying Lichtenstein’s pop art style.
- The painting plays with American cultural and gender stereotypes, depicting an idealized American man and a glamorous woman in a bright red car.
- Lichtenstein’s work exaggerates and oversaturates colors, simplifying linework and removing text to emphasize visual impact.
- Pop art emerged as a reaction against abstract expressionism, reflecting contemporary American culture and commercialization.
- Despite initial mixed critical reception and controversy, pop art’s distinct style became widely recognizable and influential in advertising, fashion, and media.
- 'In the Car' transitioned from a controversial piece to one beloved by critics and the public, maintaining relevance through re-appropriation in popular culture.
- The painting’s enduring appeal lies in its distinctive style, cultural commentary, and the emotional impact it creates on viewers.
- The video encourages viewers to reflect on what makes an artwork iconic, highlighting the role of controversy, style, and cultural resonance.
Chapters
- 00:00Introduction and Controversy Over Purchase
- 00:58The Iconic Nature of 'In the Car'
- 02:28Cultural and Gender Stereotypes in the Painting
- 02:51Artistic Technique and Visual Style
- 03:57Pop Art’s Reaction to Abstract Expressionism
- 05:27Pop Art’s Cultural Impact and Reception
- 06:47Legacy and Continued Influence of Lichtenstein’s Work
- 08:07Why 'In the Car' Remains Iconic Today
Full Transcript — Download SRT & Markdown
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Aptly named ‘In the Car’. Seventeen years later, the National Galleries of Scotland bought the larger version of the piece. Here it is, for £100,000.
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The galleries were greeted with uproar that so much taxpayers’ money could have been spent on something so simple.
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Keith Hartley: It was the money that caused the controversy. Holly Prentice: You could have bought X, Y, and Z, rather than just buying that one.
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Luke Edwards: I think it cost 100 grand. Keith Hartley: £100,000 being spent on a blown-up version of a comic.
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Fiona Menzies: Why are you buying a comic? I could paint that. Narrator: But by 2005, Lichtenstein’s stock had skyrocketed, and at auction, the smaller version of the painting was sold for 16.2 million dollars.
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His art now well and truly iconic. 'In the Car', like so much of Lichtenstein’s work, is a huge recreation of one small comic panel.
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In this case, an anthology from DC Comics called “Girl’s Romances,” an issue of which cost just 10 cents.
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So from these humble origins, why has 'In the Car' become such a valuable and iconic painting?
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'In the Car' is a classic example of Lichtenstein’s work. Luke Edwards: Probably one of the most iconic Lichtensteins around, really.
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Holly Prentice: It's bright, colourful, you're going to recognise it. It plays with visual and gendered stereotypes of American culture.
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Keith Hartley: An almost retro-camp feeling. Of looking back at perhaps a feeling of nostalgia.
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Back to a sort of heroic age when America was growing in the post-war period.
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It depicts the square-jawed, slicked-back and suited, idealised American man. The glamorous, independent, stylish American blonde - sitting in a bright red car.
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The expressions are exaggerated; they are dramatic yet mundane. Keith Hartley: There's a sort of psychological battle going on between the two figures.
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And you wonder what she is thinking and what he is thinking. Holly Prentice: The start of a conversation for people looking at it.
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Because you're trying to fill in those gaps. Narrator: Like Andy Warhol, Lichtenstein’s work is all about reproduction and images of American culture.
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Many of his frames drew from the same series of romantic comics, a series that perpetuated the gender roles and stereotypes of the time with tales of handsome, untrustworthy rogues, beautiful women, and melodramatic, doomed romances.
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But it’s not simply a recreation of the panel. Keith Hartley: It's much more complicated than that.
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The simple fact of doing things on a much larger scale makes you aware of the relationship of one area of blocked colour to another area.
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Narrator: Lichtenstein takes the image, exaggerates and oversaturates the colours. Luke Edwards: He's obviously dialled it up, so you normally get quite hard lines, and very, very strong colours.
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Holly Prentice: It's quite minimalist in colours, but that just makes you go, 'wow'. Narrator: Stripping them back to five garish hues and commenting on American culture’s contemporary brashness.
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As Roy himself said: He strips out the text and simplifies the linework, drawing attention to the dynamic action lines that give energy to the piece.
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But the real genius is in the recontextualisation of the image in the first place - scaled up and moved from the world of entertainment to the world of art.
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So, 'In the Car' captured something essential of American culture. But why did it initially become so famous?
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Pop art’s massive impact on the art world was really the result of a huge sense of...
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controversy. The movement was a rejection of abstract expressionism made famous by the likes of Jackson Pollock and Mark Rothko, a style that Lichtenstein had previously worked in.
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Keith Hartley: I mean, pop art really, I think, was partly a reaction against the sort of over-subjectivity and almost arbitrary nature of abstract expressionism.
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Narrator: By contrast, pop art was a much more direct response to capitalist America. Holly Prentice: It's got that sort of design, marketing response.
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Fiona Menzies: A parody of commercialisation and advertising. Keith Hartley: A feeling that artists should pay more attention to what was happening in the world about them.
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Narrator: Lichtenstein saw American artwork before this as being ‘subtle’ in a way that was, 'really not part of America'.
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An America that was rapidly changing. Keith Hartley: It was a very exciting period - the beginning of the 1960s.
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Things were happening. A whole range of liberation movements. Feminism. The Civil Rights movement in America.
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Gay liberation and artists wanted to reflect some of these things that were going on.
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Narrator: Yet whilst pop art reflected these changes, critical reception to this new style was mixed.
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Keith Hartley: It was quite a shock that he didn't seem to be putting much input himself - his own feelings, into the work.
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Narrator: Some feared that pop art was a threat to the very concept of high art.
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In 1962, the art critic Max Kozloff wrote that: Yet whilst controversy can help to make a piece famous in the first place, it doesn't account for why some pieces stay so beloved. So how does that happen?
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Part of Lichtenstein’s enduring appeal is in the distinctiveness of his style. The work of artists using distinctively recognisable or graphic styles tends to reappear in the world around us.
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Luke Edwards: The work has been kind of cycled. Fiona Menzies: It's been used in advertising.
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People can instantly recognise it. Keith Hartley: Forms and colours that you see in pop art are used everywhere, and I think people have grown used to it.
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They warm to it all the time. Luke Edwards: The technique is very high, but it's actually quite simplified drawing.
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Narrator: And as a result, you see it on advertisements, stationery, Snapchat filters, TV shows, and particularly in the fashion world, from catwalk to high street.
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Such re-appropriations also open up older artwork to younger generations, prolonging its life in the culture.
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"I'll see you very soon. Bye!" Narrator: All of which help keep styles like Roy Lichtenstein’s ever-present beyond the art world.
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As a result, helping to elevate his value within it. While 'In the Car' has moved from comic book to canvas, it has also made another progression - from a hugely controversial piece of artwork to one widely loved by art critics and the public alike.
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Keith Hartley: The general feeling has altered quite considerably. Holly Prentice: It gets a great response here.
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Narrator: Because viewing art is very much shaped by the time in which it is viewed, and the power of controversy is often lost as the years go by.
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Luke Edwards: For me, pop art has never really seemed controversial. But maybe that's because I'm from like a later generation of artists.
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Keith Hartley: Once people have got used to something, along comes something else which they're going to be shocked about.
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Narrator: 'In The Car' became famous because of its controversy. But it’s stayed so well loved because of its distinctive, accessible, and easily imitated style.
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And because of something more intangible: a variety of factors that can elevate an artwork to being truly great.
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Keith Hartley: When you actually see it for the first time, you are just taken aback by the impact of the colour, the impact of the design.
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And people are quite overcome by it. Holly Prentice: A big hitter that I can pull out, and everyone's going to go, 'wow!' Fiona Menzies: You're never going to walk past it, and not look at it.
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Keith Hartley: Really great works have a sort of - a big impact on you, and I think this work in particular has that.
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Narrator: Get involved in the comments below to let us know what you think makes an artwork iconic, and keep an eye out on our channel for future videos in this series.
Topics:Roy LichtensteinIn the CarPop ArtNational Galleries of Scotlandcomic artAmerican culture1960s artart controversyabstract expressionismiconic artwork
