On Thursday, October 10, a Dutch museum, Het Loo Palace, unveiled Andy Warhol's exquisite ‘Queen’ collection, featuring royal portraits with diamond dust. The exhibition runs until January 1st 2025.
A Dutch museum recently unveiled a rare collection of prints by Andy Warhol, depicting female royalty, crafted shortly before the pop art icon's untimely death 36 years ago. Titled Royal Edition, the exhibition at the stately Het Loo Palace in Apeldoorn showcases 16 prints of reigning queens.
The portraits include that of the former Dutch queen, now Princess Beatrix, who officially opened the exhibition in the central Dutch city on Thursday. "Today, Paleis Het Loo is the only museum in Europe to possess all 16 prints of Warhol's diamond dusted 'Royal Edition' in its collection," curator Hanna Klarenbeek informed AFP.
Acquired by Het Loo in 1986, just one year after its creation, this collection is among the few complete museum collections worldwide. The series also highlights prints of Queen Elizabeth II, Queen Margrethe II of Denmark, and Queen Ntombi Tfwala of Eswatini, previously known as Swaziland. "These four were the only reigning queens at the time," the museum noted.
Andy Warhol conceived the idea to portray the four queens towards the end of his life, producing two editions of the series: a standard edition of 40 copies and this Royal Edition embellished with "diamond dust." The prints are distinctive as Andy Warhol enhanced their contour lines with finely ground glass, adding a sparkling effect to the portraits.
Andy Warhol crafted four unique portraits for each queen, varying in color scheme and the geometric patterns overlaying them. Among them, the portraits of Queen Beatrix are particularly notable. The artist himself remarked at the time that hers was "the best looking one of the whole bunch!" the museum recounted.
The Reigning Queens series exemplifies Andy Warhol's role as a pioneer of the American Pop Art movement, transforming everyday subjects into art. The Het Loo museum anticipates that this may be the last opportunity for admirers to view Warhol's queens for some time due to their inherent fragility.
Andy Warhol passed away on February 22, 1987, in New York at the age of 58.
With AFP
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