In 1972 U.S. President Richard Nixon traveled to China to meet Chairman Mao Zedong, ending years of diplomatic isolation between the two nations. This historic event captured the imagination of Warhol, who, between 1972 and 1973, created 199 silkscreen paintings of Mao in five scales. An extension of his fascination with celebrity, the Mao paintings utilize Warhol’s characteristic silkscreen process to transfer to canvas one of the most recognized portraits in the world: the photograph of Mao reproduced throughout China during the Cultural Revolution (1966–76). As interpreted by Warhol, these works, with their repeated image painted in flamboyant colors and with expressionistic marks, may suggest a parallel between political propaganda and capitalist advertising.
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Artwork Details
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Title:Mao
Artist:Andy Warhol (American, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 1928–1987 New York)
Date:1973
Medium:Acrylic and silkscreen on canvas
Dimensions:12 × 10 1/8 in. (30.5 × 25.4 cm)
Classification:Paintings
Credit Line:Gift of Halston, 1983
Object Number:1983.606.13
Inscription: Signed and dated (verso): Andy Warhol 73
the artist, New York (1973–74; on consignment in 1973 to the Leo Castell Gallery, New York, stock no. LC-1092, returned by Castelli in 1974 to the artist; sold by the artist in 1974 to Halston); Halston, New York (1974–83; his gift to MMA)
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "China: Through the Looking Glass," May 7–August 16, 2015 (installed in galleries of Costume Institute exhibition).
Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris. "Warhol Unlimited," October 2, 2015–February 7, 2016, no. 254.
Museo Picasso Málaga. "Andy Warhol: The Mechanical Art," May 30–September 16, 2018, unnumbered cat. (p. 146).
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art [The Met Breuer]. "Home Is a Foreign Place: Recent Acquisitions in Context," April 9, 2019–March 12, 2020 [intended closing date June 21, 2020], no catalogue.
Henry M. Sayre. "The Object of Performance: Aesthetics in the Seventies." Georgia Review 37 (Spring 1983), p. 186, discusses Mao series.
David Bourdon. Warhol. New York, 1989, pp. 317–18, discusses Mao portraits.
Neil Printz and Sally King-Nero, ed. The Andy Warhol Catalogue Raisonné. Vol. 3, Paintings and Sculptures 1970–1974. London, 2010, pp. 63, 165–67, 170, 172, 176–78, 182–83, 226, 262, 267, 272, 374, 406, 415, no. 2450, ill. p. 248 (color), discuss the Mao series.
Mark Rosenthal inRegarding Warhol: Sixty Artists, Fifty Years. Exh. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 2012, pp. 57, 62, discusses Mao series.
Rebecca Lowery inRegarding Warhol: Sixty Artists, Fifty Years. Exh. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 2012, pp. 260, 271, discusses Mao series.
Marla Prather inRegarding Warhol: Sixty Artists, Fifty Years. Exh. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 2012, p. 166, discusses Mao series.
Ian Alteveer inRegarding Warhol: Sixty Artists, Fifty Years. Exh. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 2012, p. 231, discusses Mao series.
John Finlay inAndy Warhol: The Mechanical Art. Ed. José Lebrero Stals. Exh. cat., CaixaForum Barcelona. Málaga, 2017, pp. 144, 246, ill. p. 146 (color).
Emily Sun. "Decolonizing Western Narratives of Modern Art." hyperallergic.com. September 26, 2019, ill. (color, installation photo).
Blake Gopnik. Warhol. 1st ed. New York, 2020, pp. 742–49
, discusses Mao series.
Michael Bullock. "From Christmas Lights to Megastructures: Curator Abraham Thomas on Six Defining Works of Paul Rudolph’s Career." pinupmagazine.org. March 5, 2025.
Andy Warhol (American, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 1928–1987 New York)
1973
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