THE HALFTONE DOTS USED IN POP MAESTRO ROY LICHTENSTEIN ARE WORLD FAMOUS. TAKING MOTIFS FROM THE REALMS OF COMICS AND CONSUMERISM, LICHTENSTEIN MADE PAINTINGS BY PIECING TOGETHER DOTS AND COLOURED SURFACES. BUT A VERY DIFFERENT SIDE OF HIS WORK CAN BE DISCOVERED AT A STUNNING NEW EXHIBITION AT MUSEUM LUDWIG. AROUND 100 WORKS, CHIEFLY LARGE-SCALE PAINTINGS ALONG WITH A NUMBER OF SCULPTURES AND DRAWINGS, REVEAL HIS FASCINATING EXPLORATIONS OF STYLE THROUGH THE HISTORY OF ART, FROM EXPRESSIONISM AND FUTURISM TO BAUHAUS AND ART DECO. LICHTENSTEIN EVEN APPROPRIATED WORKS BY HIS ARTIST HEROES, PICASSO, MATISSE, MONDRIAN AND EVEN DALI, AND INTERPRETED THEM IN AN OFTEN IRONIC AND CRYPTIC MANNER USING HIS OWN VISUAL LANGUAGE. MANY OF HIS EARLY WORKS ARE BASED ON HISTORIC AMERICAN PAINTINGS, SUCH AS BY BENJAMIN WEST. BUT HE ALSO PAINTED AFTER SUCH MODELS AS PICASSO, BRAQUE AND KLEE, WHO ACCORDING TO HIS OWN WORDS HE WORKED INTO AN 'EXPRESSIONIST CUBISM'. INDEED, LICHTENSTEIN EVEN CONTINUED HIS TAKES ON PICASSO LATER ON, ONCE HE HAD ALREADY BEGUN TO WORK WITH THE HALF-TONE DOTS. IN HIS HANDS, PICASSO'S WORKS BECAME A KIND OF COMIC AND RECEIVED A CHARACTER ALL ITS OWN. PAINTING A WORK THAT CLEARLY RESEMBLED PICASSO WAS, ACCORDING TO LICHTENSTEIN, A LIBERATING ACT. WITH HIS PERFECT AND IMPERFECT PAINTINGS LICHTENSTEIN WANTED TO CREATE ABSTRACT WORKS PURELY FOR THEIR OWN SAKE. ACCORDING TO HIM, THE IDEA WAS TO LET THE LINE START AT SOME POINT AND THEN FOLLOW IT, THUS ALLOWING IT TO DRAW ALL OF THE SHAPES IN THE PAINTING. AFTER COMPLETING THE LICHTENSTEIN EXHIBITION IT IS WORTH TAKING A TOUR ROUND THE PERMANENT COLLECTION AT MUSEUM LUDWIG, WHICH PRESENTS FASCINATING CROSS-CONNECTIONS AND COMPARISONS WITH WORKS BY LEGER AND PICASSO AND EVEN KIRCHNER AND DALI.
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