Queen Ntombi Twala of Swaziland, from Reigning Queens

ANDY WARHOL (1928-1987)

Queen Ntombi Twala of Swaziland, from Reigning Queens

stamped with the artist's copyright inkstamp and date; stamped again with the Andy Warhol Art Authentication Board, Inc. inkstamp and numbered '110.089' (on the reverse)

unique screenprint on Lenox Museum Board

40 x 32 inches (101.6 x 81.3 cm)

Executed in 1985. This work is outside of the regular edition and is accompanied by a certificate and number '110.089' from the Andy Warhol Art Authentication Board, Inc.

NOTES:

Andy Warhol (1928 - 1987) emerged as a pioneering figure at the forefront of the 1960s Pop Art movement. His vivid silkscreens of Campbell’s Soup Cans, Marilyn Monroe, and other commercial icons blurred the lines between fine art, mass production and advertising. Working across film, photography, painting and printmaking, Warhol upended traditional notions of authorship and elevated the artist to celebrity status. His Factory studio became an incubator for artistic innovation, and his incisive critique of consumerism and fame continues to shape contemporary art and popular culture today.

From Warhol’s Reigning Queens series, this portrait depicts Queen Ntombi Twala, one of four reigning monarchs represented in the portfolio, each of whom held power in 1985. Rendered in saturated color and bold graphic contrast, Warhol treats royalty through the same Pop lens as celebrity, collapsing distinctions between political authority, fame, and image-making. The series reflects Warhol’s late-career fascination with female leadership and the visual construction of power.