Interior with restful paintings 1991

Roy Lichtenstein made this large-scale canvas with oil and magna paint, and wow, what a scene! It’s like stepping into a comic book, but make it domestic. The flat planes of primary color, those bold outlines, and of course, the Ben-Day dots are so signature Lichtenstein. I imagine him meticulously applying each dot, recreating a mechanical process by hand. It’s kind of funny, right? To paint something that looks like it was printed. But it makes you wonder: what is the role of the artist? What are the values that underpin painting? Look at how he flattens space, creating this tension between representation and abstraction. It reminds me of Matisse, but with a Pop Art twist. Lichtenstein is in conversation with art history while poking fun at it. And those ‘restful paintings’ hanging on the wall… a painting within a painting, how meta! It's as though he's inviting us to reflect on the nature of art itself.