The late film star Marilyn Monroe died suddenly in 1962 at the age of 36. Famous for playing "dumb blonde" characters she became one of the most popular sex symbols of the 1950s emblematic of the era's attitudes towards sexuality. This lot features a very poignant limited-edition (#32/100) framed serigraph of the fallen movie starlet from artist Jean Pierre Yvaral Vasarely. The overall framed and matted presentation measures 36 wide by 44.5 high and has been signed by the artist in pencil on the bottom right corner.

French artist Yvaral(1934 - 2002) is most well known for his Marilyn Monroe series a collection of digitized portraits of Monroe created between1989 and 1995.Yvaral like his father Victor Vasarely was closely associated with the kinetic artmovement. As a founder member of GRAV (Groupe de Recherche dArt Visuel) with LeParc Morellet and others Yvaral was best known to the general public for his graphicdesigns including the Renault logo Atlantic Olympics logo and his giant street installationsthroughout Europe and America.Yvaral made his first kinetic works in the late 1950s creating structures from vinyl and nylonwire. In his paintings he experimented with geometrical abstract art where he sought tocreate a visual language based on simple codifiable and programmed elements. Thispreoccupation with numerical art manifested itself in the Cubic Structures and StructuralHorizons series of the 1960s and 70s.In 1975 Yvaral introduced digital images into his work creating studies in geometricabstraction from faces landscapes and monuments. These numerical artworks are likediagrams perfect geometric compositions using calibrated ranges of color. Over a period oftwenty years Yvaral digitized a variety of images including portraits of Marilyn MonroeSalvador Dali and Mona Lisa. He did not intend to pay homage to any of these figures butchose them because they were instantly recognizable to the collective public conscious.By using the image of Marilyn Monroe Yvaral is of course referencing Andy Warhols famous silk screen paintings produced immediately after her death in 1962. Yvaral experimented with avariety of geometric compositions and vigorous color interactions to produce a series ofdiverse yet instantly recognizable images.Yvaral is represented in many important private and public collections worldwide includingthe Tate London and the Museum of Modern Art New York. He was featured in majormuseum shows such as The Kinetic Eye at the Museum of Modern and Contemporary ArtStrasbourg France in 2005 and The Expanded Eye at Kunsthaus Zurich Switzerland in2006. This year there are three more major museum shows: Optic Nerve at the Columbus Museum of Art in Columbus Ohio; Op Art at the Schirn Kunsthalle in Frankfurt and Lo[s]Cintico[s] at the Reina Sofia museum in Madrid.