The Oval Office | Roy Lichtenstein

The Oval Office (1992)

Roy Lichtenstein | Color Screenprint 

National Gallery of Art, Washington

To celebrate Roy Lichtenstein: A Retrospective and the upcoming inauguration, the National Gallery of Art, Washington, installed Lichtenstein's print The Oval Office (1992). Commissioned as part of the Artists for Freedom of Expression project to benefit the Democratic National Committee during the 1992 Clinton/Gore campaign, the print was later chosen as one of six commemorative inaugural posters by the Presidential Inaugural Committee.

The inaugural poster was reproduced with the heading "A New Generation of Leadership" prior to the Democratic National Convention and also made into a campaign button.

Lichtenstein studied the interior of the Oval Office at the White House to accurately include decorative details such as the paintings that once hung on the walls. In January 1993, after the print and poster were issued, Lichtenstein completed the painting The Oval Office.  A color screenprint was a gift to the Gallery from Roy and Dorothy Lichtenstein in 1996.