Lot126 N11733 Roy Lichtenstein Large Interior with Three Reflections (Mural Panel) (Study)
"In its powerful iconicity, the nude as an evocative embodiment of the creative process itself is reticulated through serial reiteration of the subject matter. It is the discovery and convulsive act of formal genesis—and Lichtenstein’s symbolic transfiguration of pictorial skin and gristle—that signals its real pictorial metamorphosis..."
A retrospective encapsulation of Roy Lichtenstein’s career in one entrancing composition, Large Interior with Three Reflections (Mural Panel) (Study) is replete with reference to the artist’s legendary oeuvre, cleverly synthesizes multiple perspectives, blending fiction and reality. The present work dates to Lichtenstein’s acclaimed Interiors of the 1990s, a series in which the artist explored domestic spaces as popularized in mass media, adorning them with icons from art history and his own practice. Here, Lichtenstein’s signature wit and distinctive Pop vernacular reaches its zenith: after decades of appropriating from art historical forebears, Lichtenstein turns to his own oeuvre for his subject matter. Predating a monumental mural of the same subject, the present work reveals Lichtenstein’s process and intellectual inquiry through compositional development. From his 1962 Curtains and Swiss Cheese to his melodramatic comic-book romance scenes, his 90s Cityscape and Imperfect Sculpture, Large Interior with Three Reflections (Mural Panel) (Study) is abounding with self-referential treasures—a trove of Lichtenstein’s incomparable oeuvre.
“The interiors were settings in which Lichtenstein’s imagination could reinvent the world around him in his particular style… The capacity of Lichtenstein’s art to engage such dualities—whimsy and complexity, drollery and sophistication, parody and reverence—enlivens his work and his a continual source of pleasure.”
Although Lichtenstein’s exploration of interiors began in earnest in the early 1990s, the subject Lichtenstein engaged with the subject throughout his practice, dating back to the early 60s with iconic works like Bathroom (1961) in the collects ion of the Whitney Museum of American Art and Curtains (1962) in the collects ion of the Saint Louis Art Museum. In 1973, Lichtenstein again returned to the interior, creating the iconic Artist’s Studio “Look Mickey” in the collects ion of the Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, which incorporated elements of his own practice, including the Stretcher Bar paintings, Mirrors, and even a reproduction of his own 1961 work, Look Mickey. In the 90s, he returned to the theme with a renewed intensity, transforming his interiors into sites that engage with themes across his now four-decade body of work. Compelled by the banality and commercialization of domestic décor across popular media and advertisements, Lichtenstein created interiors with rich compositional complexity and the spirit of fantasy. Lichtenstein’s spaces feel familiar and yet uncanny, bearing the cinematic and atemporal quality of the comic realm. As noted by Robert Fitzpatrick: “The interiors were settings in which Lichtenstein’s imagination could reinvent the world around him in his particular style… The capacity of Lichtenstein’s art to engage such dualities—whimsy and complexity, drollery and sophistication, parody and reverence—enlivens his work and his a continual source of pleasure.” (Robert Fitzpatrick in: Exh. Cat., Chicago, Museum of Contemporary Art, Roy Lichtenstein Interiors, 1999, p.14)
Peter David, George Perez, Tom Smith, et al. The Incredible Hulk, Vol. 1, Iss. 400, December 1992
Lichtenstein took inspiration from the visual language of comic books and their vibrant conflation of action and narrative. Here, the disembodied hands prying open the curtain, its owner concealed in a void of color, mirrors a scene from The Incredible Hulk comic from 1992 in which the character makes his suspenseful entrance.
Roy Lichtenstein, Grapefruit and Bananas I, 1972. Private collects ion
Lichtenstein’s still lifes altered existing conceptions around the genre. Rather than build highly realistic and deep images of fruit, Lichtstein uses graphic lines and shadeless color, creating a completely smooth surface.
Roy Lichtenstein, Imperfect Sculpture, 1994. Private collects ion. Sold at Replica Shoes ’s New York in November 2025 for $180,000
In an interior scene filled with representational references, a single object in each panel brings a delightful taste of Lichtenstein’s foray into abstraction.
Roy Lichtenstein, Blonde Waiting, 1964. Private collects ion
Rescuing the comic trope of the damsel in distress and immortalizing her in his art, Lichtenstein challenged the tradition of the nude, replacing demure goddesses with blonde bombshells. Lichtenstein carried a fascination of the domestic sphere and the woman’s exile in the home, painting languid, bored, yet impossibly sensual women performing the dutiful task of a wife waiting for the return of her husband.
Roy Lichtenstein, Swiss Cheese, 1962. Private collects ion
In its own right a figure in pop culture, the ubiquitous swiss cheese with its comically reliable circles feature prominently in Lichtenstein’s oeuvre. The artist painted a Swiss Cheese pattern over his studio elevator doors, and commissioned a cake in the form of a block of Swiss cheese for the 1994 Dada Ball at Webster Hall.
Tom Palmer, Steve Epting, Bill Oakley, et al. The Avengers, Vol. 1, Iss. 358, January 1993
For the framed work above the couch in the third panel, Lichtenstein reworks the Avenger Thundra, removing her headpiece and changing her hair and skin tone. Her red hair and green skin are also in the final Large Interior, though Lichtenstein puts her headpiece back in place.
Roy Lichtenstein, Cityscape, 1995. Private collects ion
Lichtenstein built a variety of prototypes for his sculpture, Cityscape, each an experimentation in conveying the velocity of metal buildings as they shoot skyward. A grouping of skyscrapers sits on a side table in the present work, a playful minimization of these formidable urban beasts.
“In these 1990s Interiors, Lichtenstein restates some of his original concerns. He uses image from the media, such as a bathroom, bedroom, or living room, which still typify our consumer culture, as one reality, and compares and contrasts them with the reality of the art that he depicts on the living room walls—two different levels of illusion… to remind us of the fiction of the painting and suggests that everything is fiction, including reality itself.”
Expanding from a single interior space, Lichtenstein here presents the viewer with the cross-section of a home, revealing three rooms at once. The tripartite interior exemplifies the playful invention at the core of Lichtenstein’s work; as our eyes meander through these three rooms, we are equally convinced of the reality and reminded of the inherent artificiality of the scene. Far from static, Lichtenstein’s composition offers a narrative unveiling which charts his career. In the living room, above the sofa, Lichtenstein appears to render a version of his 1960s, comic-book-inspired scenes, perhaps an amalgamation of Forget It! Forget.mes ! (1962) and Tension (1964), which capture a couple in conflict. Lichtenstein further adorns the room with his 1972 still life, Bananas and Grapefruit I, and his 1995 Cityscape. Wandering through the open door—itself an homage to the 1961 drawing Knock Knock, the viewer enters the foyer. Above the consol, in pride of place, Lichtenstein depicts a nude figure in repose—echoing both the tradition of the reclining female nude in the Western art historical canon and his own Nudes of the 1990s. Just to the left of the nude, Lichtenstein evokes his 1962 painting, Curtains, with an intimate interior scene featuring a ruffled curtain drawn back before a moody sky. And just below this work, he incorporates a painting with a single word: FORM. Here, one cannot help but recall the artist’s iconic 1962 painting, ART, which featured the same palette of red text on yellow ground. At the foreground of the center frame, Lichtenstein playfully includes a sculptural version of his 1962 painting, Swiss Cheese. And, finally, in the rightmost vignette, above his 1995 Imperfect Sculpture, Lichtenstein makes a very clever addition. Here, in jest with the viewer, Lichtenstein depicts four fingers pulling back a curtain, as if the artist himself is pulling back the curtain to reveal the inherent artificiality of the picture.
Meticulous, inventive and ever clever, Lichtenstein captivates the viewer, synthesizing reality and illusion. Large Interior with Three Reflections (Mural Panel) (Study) perfectly encapsulates the driving inquiries of Lichtenstein’s career, transforming the ordinary into the extraordinary.
