Why I love Warhol's "Marilyn Diptych"

Warhol was a genius.

If you disagree, you just don't know enough about Warhol.

The first time I saw his piece "Marilyn Diptych," I was in the only Art course I took while at university. It was Art History.

I loved that class. I looked forward to it. I paid attention in it. I mean, I, of course, sat in the back. But I loved that class.

The professor projected a slide of "Marilyn Diptych" onto the screen. I was captivated first by colors, then by the image repetition, then by the message the professor told us.

The piece was Warhol created in the four months that followed Marilyn Monroe's death in 1962.

The professor told us that it was a piece on the dehumanizing aspects of fame, the cult of celebrity and the deadening of our, the normal population's, senses.

When we see something long enough, it loses its meaning to us and becomes superficial.

When we see a celebrity long enough, they become not-human. They become a product. An image. An idea. 

“When we see something long enough, it loses its meaning to us and becomes superficial. When we see a celebrity long enough, they become not-human. They become a product. An image. An idea. ”

But they become less human. And we, in turn, become less sensitive. Less aware. We make remarks about them that we would never make about other people. 

We gossip and delight in their pain because these celebrities are stories, not people.

We cut them down and criticize them, because they are a reminder of what we think we lack. They are not people.

This class and discussion was right in the window when Britney Spears was having her infamous meltdown. (No, I'm not linking out to anything there. Not on this post. Not while discussing this topic. And, frankly, not ever.)

It was right as Kim Kardashian was on her rise to fame.

Celebrity and fame are things that deep down many of us think that we want. We want attention, approval... ultimately it's power that we want. 

But we never look at the other side of celebrity. The blog posts mocking their body parts. The internet comments criticizing their children. The articles publicizing their failed or struggling relationships.

“We need to stop poisoning our culture by tearing down those that we, in some way, envy.”

These people who are celebrities are not our ideas of what they are. They are people. 

If they make you feel a certain way about yourself, you have work to do internally. On your own. And for the love of God, do it quietly.

We need to stop poisoning our culture by tearing down those that we, in some way, envy.

If everyone stopped paying attention to celebrities, our culture would be less violent, less sex-saturated, less loud. More peaceful. More grounded. More humble. 

We, as a nation, would listen more and speak less.

This painting reminds me that our realized dreams sometimes turn into our nightmares. Alanis Morissette speaks of this.

Think of your average famous person. Think of what people say about them. Now imagine that you're them. 

“That’s what this painting does. It introduces us to the poison of fame.”

That's what this painting does. 

It introduces us to the poison of fame.

The slow murder of the humanity of each celebrity.

It introduces us to parts of ourselves that need work.

Warhol is a genius. 

TRISHA WILES