Andy Warhol Jacqueline Kennedy I (Jackie I) For Sale

Jacqueline Kennedy I is the first in a series of prints executed by the artist in 1964. By appropriating newspaper imagery of one of the most famous faces in twentieth- Century America, icon and wife of President John F Kennedy, Warhol took one of the most shocking and significant events in  American Modern History – the assassination of the President, which had occurred a year earlier in 1963. 

Warhol was no stranger to producing images of famous people after they had passed or experienced tragedy: his first print of Marilyn was created two years after her death. Here, Jacqueline appears center of the work with her husband seen partially to the right of her. In the photograph, Warhol’s signature bold graphic black-and white style highlights Jackie’s happy and joyous expression, though the assassination had occurred three years earlier. The viewer is granted the foreknowledge that the subject of the portrait is not, adding to its gravitas. 

The print forms a series of images of Jacqueline, cementing her status as a ‘Warholian’ icon. This example remains one of the most intimate portraits, as we see a single photograph of her.