SELF-PORTRAIT

1967

This is one of a series of self-portraits that Warhol made in 1966–67, all based on the same photograph. His likeness remains recognisable but the image is painted in such a way as to minimise Warhol’s human qualities. His facial features, although always identifiable, also act as patterns of densely layered colour. Any expressive paint handling is suppressed by the silkscreened surface, reflecting Warhol’s self-proclaimed intention to ‘completely remove all the hand gesture from art and become noncommittal, anonymous’.

(Tate, c2017)