Behind The Print | Queen Margrethe II Of Denmark by Andy Warhol
Special announcement on the abdication of Queen Margrethe II of Denmark on 31st December 2023, 52 years to the day since she became queen.
Queen Margrethe II of Denmark 343 was created by Andy Warhol in 1985 as part of his “Reigning Queens” series. Other queens in the series include Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands, Queen Ntombi Twala of Swaziland, and Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom. The portfolio consists of sixteen screenprints. Warhol depicts these four female monarchs in their own right, rather than as women who were married to a king. Warhol also did another series of Reigning Queens (Royal Edition), in which the images were accented with diamond dust.
Andy Warhol created the Reigning Queens series during the mid-1980s, arguably his most prolific period. During this time, Warhol was forming bonds with a number of younger artists in the New York art scene including Jean-Michel Basquiat, Julian Schnabel and David Salle. Warhol saw a re-emergence of critical and financial success during this period of his life.