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Lichtenstein, Roy - Drowning girl
Identifier
016752
Type of Spiritual Experience
Background
Drowning Girl (also known as Secret Hearts or I Don't Care! I'd Rather Sink) is a 1963 painting in oil and synthetic polymer paint on canvas by Roy Lichtenstein. Utilizing the conventions of comic book art, a thought bubble conveys the thoughts of the figure, while Ben-Day dots echo the effect of the mechanized printing process. It is one of the most representative paintings of the pop art movement, and part of the Museum of Modern Art's permanent collection since 1971. The painting is considered among Lichtenstein's most significant works, perhaps on a par with his acclaimed 1963 diptych Whaam!, Drowning Girl has been described as a "masterpiece of melodrama", and is one of the artist's earliest images depicting women in tragic situations, a theme to which he often returned in the mid-1960s.