Description
Marilyn Monroe – red lips on black
Wall art sculpts a white-silver head out of a wholly black ground, so the face reads as a relief laid onto darkness rather than as a picture painted into it: modern painting whose only saturated colours are the red of the lips and a thin gold stroke above the eyes.
Technique and texture
Broad fleshy planes of paint curl up at their edges and throw shadows of their own onto the black. Nothing is blended: white stays white and grey stays grey, and the change between them is made by the edge of an application and nothing else. The black behind is smooth and matt, which is what lets the relief in front of it stand so far forward.
The motif
The head is turned slightly aside and down, the eyes are nearly shut, and the whole face is assembled from a few large planes instead of being drawn. Waves of hair are suggested with a handful of strokes and break at the left edge into separate locks. Fine white and red droplets are scattered over the black like sparks.
Setting and placement
The contrast between black ground and white relief is extreme, so this hangs alone or not at all. On a pale wall its dark rectangle behaves like a window — a reception room, a hallway, a living room with one clear surface.
- Technique: hand-painted painting on canvas, broad fleshy knife planes, curled edges, matt black ground
- Palette: white, silver grey, black, red, gold
- Ideal for: living rooms, reception rooms, hallways
- Character: dramatic, contrasting, glamorous
Choose the size that suits your wall.
Marilyn Monroe on your wall – sizes and hanging
The Marilyn Monroe painting comes in 14 square sizes, from 40 x 40 to 180 x 180 cm. The contrast between the black ground and the white relief of the face needs room, so let it take about two thirds of the width of the furniture below: over a 200 cm sofa that is 130 x 130 or 140 x 140 cm, above a 160–180 cm double bed 110 x 110 or 120 x 120 cm, and above a 150 cm sideboard 100 x 100 cm. In a hallway or reception room, where it hangs alone, 70 x 70 or 80 x 80 cm is enough.
Choose YES under Stretcher and the Marilyn canvas arrives stretched on a wooden stretcher bar, ready to hang. A frame for the black and white Marilyn is optional, and the Frame menu starts at Without frame. Marilyn is hand-painted with a palette knife: the red lips, the gold stroke above the eyes and the curled white edges are real paint, not a print. Delivery of Marilyn Monroe takes 15–45 days.
Questions about Marilyn Monroe
What size of Marilyn Monroe should hang over a sofa?
Over a 200 cm sofa pick 130 x 130 cm, and over a longer one 140 x 140 cm, so the black square with the white face stays in proportion to the furniture.
Is the Marilyn Monroe painting a print?
No. The white and grey planes are laid on with a palette knife and curl up at their edges, so they cast their own shadows on the black ground, which no print can do.
Does the Marilyn Monroe painting come with a frame?
No, for Marilyn the Frame menu starts at Without frame; with YES under Stretcher the matt black Marilyn canvas can hang just as it is.
Can I order Marilyn Monroe in a size that is not among the 14?
Yes. If no square size from 40 x 40 to 180 x 180 cm fits your wall, write to us about a painting made to order.
