Andy Warhol (1928-1987)

Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands from the series 'Reigning Queens' (Royal Edition) (1985)

signed, inscribed, and numbered in pencil 'R AP 1/5 Andy Warhol' (lower right)

silkscreen in colours and diamond dust on Lenox Museum Board, image & full sheet 100x80 cm

Published in 1985 by George C. P. Mulder, Amsterdam, and printed by Rupert Jason Smith, New York, in an edition of 30 plus five artist proofs.
Provenance:
Anon. sale, Sotheby's Amsterdam, 6 December 2000, Lot 421, where acquired by the present owner.
Literature:
-F.Feldman, J.Schellmann, 'Andy Warhol. Prints. A Catalogue Raisonné 1962-1987', 2003, p. 143, cat. no. II.340.
-G.Mulder, 'Reigning Queens, Andy Warhol', 1985, p. 20.

Andy Warhol: “Everybody knows that I’m a Queen”

Warhol created the images of Queen Beatrix in 1985 as part of his largest portfolio of screen-prints on paper, ‘Reigning Queens’. The subject matter of the series is the four ruling queens in the world at that date – Queen Elizabeth II, Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands, Queen Margrethe of Denmark, and Queen Ntombi Twala of Swaziland. Warhol’s ‘Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands’ shows the monarch at the start of her rule; when he created the print, she was only a few years into her reign. Lots 20, 21, 22, and 23 are from the ‘Royal Edition’ of the ‘Reigning Queens’ portfolio, which is sprinkled with ‘diamond dust’ – fine particles of cut or crushed glass which sparkle in the light like diamonds. Warhol was disappointed at the opening of his ‘Reigning Queens’ series, calling it “lowdown and tacky.” “[The prints] were supposed to be only for Europe—nobody here cares about royalty and it’ll just be another bad review,” he lamented in his diary. Warhol’s observation is somewhat surprising considering that four years prior to the release of his portfolio, Diana Spencer was crowned Princess of Wales. Her worldwide popularity in the 1980’s inspired a fascination with royalty in America that remains to this day. Therefore, the ‘Reigning Queens’ screen-prints continued to gain recognition over time. The idea for his royal portraits was not Warhol’s. It was former gallery owner, the Dutchman George Mulder, who, in a New York bar, suggested the idea and linked Warhol with the project. In an interview, Fiona Russell Powel reminds Warhol of this: Powel:”and you’ve been working on a set of prints called Queens.” Warhol: ‘“yes, I’ve been doing that”. Powel: “Are you one of them?”. Warhol: “Er, er, oh well, everybody knows that I’m a queen…but the prints are one of royal ones and stuff. There are just four queens”….

IMPORTANT NOTE: Lots 20, 21, 22 and 23 will first be auctioned off separately and subject to tender. Directly after the end of lot 23, these four lots will be auctioned off together as lot 100. The sum of the highest bids for lots 20 to 23 inclusive, will be taken as the starting point for the auction of lot 100. If the bids for lot 100 exceed the total sum of the lots 20, 21,22 and 23 altogether, then the highest bids placed previously on these lots will expire and be cancelled. The highest bidder on Lot 100 will become the buyer of all four works i.e. lots 20 through 23.