Queen Elizabeth II, from Reigning Queens (F. & S. II.335)

A Pop portrait of the most recognizable woman alive

By the 1980s Warhol had already turned Marilyn Monroe, Elizabeth Taylor, Elvis Presley and Mick Jagger into Pop icons. He wanted subjects whose fame went beyond popular culture. Queen Elizabeth II, described by the Guinness Book of Records as the most recognizable person in the world, was the obvious choice. Warhol himself once said, 'I want to be as famous as the Queen of England.'

Reigning Queens, published in 1985, portrays the four women who reigned in their own right that year: Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom, Beatrix of the Netherlands, Margrethe II of Denmark and Ntfombi Twala of Swaziland. Each appears in four color variations, for 16 prints in all. Feldman and Schellmann number the four Elizabeth images II.334 through II.337. This entry is II.335.

Warhol simplified the photograph down to a smooth, pale face framed by bold outlines and flat, collage-like blocks of screenprinted color. One description of II.335 has the Queen smiling against a deep blue ground, dressed in green with an orange sash. The Royal Collection put it bluntly: Warhol reduced the portrait to 'a mask-like face', a symbol of royal power.

The photograph and the permission

The source is an official portrait by the royal photographer Peter Grugeon, taken at Windsor Castle in April 1975 and released in 1977 for the Silver Jubilee. In it the Queen wears the Vladimir tiara, Queen Victoria's Golden Jubilee necklace, Queen Alexandra's wedding earrings and the Family Orders of George V and George VI on her Garter sash. Warhol's crop leaves only her father's order visible. The same image ran on stamps, banknotes and coins across the Commonwealth.

The project was driven by Warhol's European dealer and publisher, George C. P. Mulder. On September 6, 1982, Mulder wrote to the Queen's private secretary, Sir William Heseltine, asking to use her likeness. The Palace would not endorse it, but Heseltine replied that the Queen 'would certainly not wish to put any obstacles in Mr Warhol's way.'

A series Warhol said he hated showing

Reigning Queens opened at a small New York gallery in June 1985. Warhol called the opening 'hitting rock bottom' in his diary, complaining about hors d'oeuvres made in the kitchen and paper taped over a mirror. In September and October 1985 it went to the Leo Castelli Gallery. Warhol wrote that he hated Mulder for showing it in America: the prints 'were supposed to be only for Europe', where people cared about royalty.

Critics split. A Los Angeles Times reviewer found the 'day-glo pinks and vivid primaries' almost overwhelming; the writer Anthony Haden-Guest later called the project a 'shameless assault on the rich kitsch market'. A Guardian critic later saw real feeling in how Warhol traced the face, and argued the Queen looks more human treated as one more celebrity.

Warhol died in New York less than two years later, on February 22, 1987, at 58.

From kitsch to the Royal Collection

Reputations changed. In 2012, for the Diamond Jubilee, the Royal Collection acquired four diamond-dust Royal Edition prints of the Queen and showed them at Windsor Castle. They are the only portraits in the Royal Collection that Elizabeth II neither sat for nor commissioned. Tate and the National Portrait Gallery in London also hold Warhol portraits of her.

The standard edition of II.335 is tightly held. One market tracker counts just 10 auction sales since the first in 2008. In November 2024 an artist's proof, numbered AP 2/10 and signed in pencil, was offered in New York with an estimate of $150,000 to $250,000; the buyer paid $200,000.

The Queen's death on September 8, 2022, after more than 70 years on the throne, drew new attention to every image of her. Diamond-dust Royal Edition impressions of her portrait sold in London that year for £529,200 and £554,400, prices that belong to that edition, not to this one.

How to identify II.335

Check the catalog number first. The four Elizabeth images are different color variations, and II.334, II.336 and II.337 are separate works with their own prices. The Royal Edition versions carry an 'A' suffix (for example II.336A and II.337A) and have diamond dust, crushed glass that glitters in the light.

A standard impression is on Lenox Museum Board, about 100 x 80 cm, signed and numbered in pencil at lower right, out of 40. Artist's proofs are marked AP out of 10.

The numbers

Medium

Screenprint in colors on Lenox Museum Board

Dimensions

100 x 80 cm (39 3/8 x 31 1/2 in)

Edition

40, plus 10 AP, 5 PP, 3 HC and 30 TP; separate Royal Edition of 30 with diamond dust

Catalogue raisonné

Feldman & Schellmann II.335 (Andy Warhol Prints, 2003, p. 142)

Publisher

George C. P. Mulder, 1985

Auction appearances

10 sales since 2008, per one market tracker

Timeline

1. Apr 1975

   Peter Grugeon photographs Queen Elizabeth II at Windsor Castle.

2. 1977

   The portrait is released for the Silver Jubilee and reproduced on stamps, banknotes and coins.

3. Sep 6, 1982

   George C. P. Mulder writes to the Queen's private secretary asking permission to use her portrait.

4. 1985

   Reigning Queens is published: 16 screenprints, a standard edition of 40 and a diamond-dust Royal Edition of 30.

5. Jun 1985

   The series debuts at a New York gallery; Warhol calls the opening 'rock bottom'.

6. Sep 1985

   Shown at the Leo Castelli Gallery, New York, through October.

7. Dec 1985

   Shown in Los Angeles through February 1986.

8. Feb 22, 1987

   Andy Warhol dies in New York.

9. 2008

   First recorded auction sale of a II.335 impression.

10. 2012

    The Royal Collection acquires four Royal Edition prints of the Queen for the Diamond Jubilee.

11. Sep 8, 2022

    Queen Elizabeth II dies.

12. Nov 21, 2024

    Artist's proof AP 2/10 sells at auction in New York; the buyer pays $200,000.

The world in 1985

• Jan 28, 1985

  USA for Africa records 'We Are the World'.

• Apr 23, 1985

  Coca-Cola launches New Coke; the original formula is back within three months.

• May 16, 1985

  British Antarctic Survey scientists announce the discovery of the ozone hole.

• Jul 13, 1985

  Live Aid concerts in London and Philadelphia raise over £50 million for Ethiopian famine relief.

• Sep 1, 1985

  The wreck of the Titanic is located.

• Sep 13, 1985

  Nintendo releases Super Mario Bros.

• Sep 19, 1985

  A magnitude 8.0 earthquake strikes Mexico City.

Price record

A realized auction price is what a buyer actually paid on the date shown, including the buyer's premium where the sale reported it. It is the strongest kind of reference price, and it is a record of one sale of one object on one day, not a promise of what the next example will bring.

By reference price, Queen Elizabeth II, from Reigning Queens (F. & S. II.335) is number 35 of 100 in the art entries of the FLOAT 100. 88 of those 100 rest on a realized sale; the rest carry an asking price or a guide value, and each page says which. Rank within the FLOAT 100 itself (100 here) is editorial: how much an object defines its field, not price alone.

Did you know

• Warhol wrote in his diary that the Reigning Queens 'were supposed to be only for Europe'.
• The Palace declined to endorse the project but said the Queen would not stand in Warhol's way.
• Warhol's crop leaves only one family order visible on the Queen's sash: her father's.
• The Royal Collection's four Warhol prints are the only portraits there the Queen neither sat for nor commissioned.
• A Queen Beatrix print from the same series was accidentally thrown away during a Dutch town hall renovation in 2024.