At the press opening, we were overwhelmed by the richness of this extraordinary exhibition, which looks beyond Roy Lichtenstein’s iconic Pop Art imagery to reveal a far more complex and inventive artist.
There is something remarkable about viewing works of art that seem instantly familiar, only to discover how much more they have to say. That was our experience at the press opening of Roy Lichtenstein: Like New at the Whitney Museum of American Art. Rich in scope, detail, and visual surprises, this sweeping exhibition invites visitors to look again at an artist whose images have become so deeply embedded in popular culture that it is easy to underestimate the ambition behind them.
Lichtenstein’s bold outlines, vivid colors, comic-strip figures, and distinctive dots are among the most recognizable visual signatures of twentieth-century art. Yet the exhibition makes a compelling case that there is considerably more to his work than its immediately identifiable style. Across six decades of artistic exploration, Lichtenstein returned to a fascinating set of questions: Where do images come from? What happens when they are copied or transformed? And at what point does a familiar image become something entirely new?
On view at the Whitney through May 10, 2027, Roy Lichtenstein: Like New brings together approximately 130 works spanning the early 1940s through the 1990s. Paintings, drawings, collages, prints, sculpture, film, and monumental murals reveal an artist whose curiosity extended well beyond the visual vocabulary that made him famous.
Beyond the Familiar Dots
Lichtenstein emerged as a leading figure in the Pop Art movement of the early 1960s, when artists began challenging traditional distinctions between fine art and popular culture. Rather than turning exclusively to established artistic subjects, he drew inspiration from comic books, advertising, commercial illustrations, and the imagery of everyday life.
His paintings often resemble enlarged panels from a comic strip, complete with dramatic expressions, emphatic contours, and Ben-Day-style dots associated with commercial printing. Their apparent simplicity, however, conceals an intensely considered process. These were not mechanical reproductions. Lichtenstein carefully reworked his sources, adjusting compositions, scale, color, and detail before translating them into paintings that were unmistakably his own.
The exhibition encourages visitors to move beyond the familiar surface and consider the decisions behind each image. What appears at first glance to be straightforward or even playful becomes an investigation into perception, representation, and the ways images acquire meaning.
Among the celebrated works on view are Look Mickey (1961), Girl with Ball (1961), Masterpiece (1962), Drowning Girl(1963), and Happy Tears (1964). Their enduring appeal lies not only in their graphic power but also in their ability to make us reconsider images we may think we already know.
A Monumental Experience
One of the exhibition’s most striking elements is its recreation of Lichtenstein’s Greene Street Mural (1983), an expansive work stretching nearly 96 feet. Originally created for Leo Castelli Gallery in New York, the mural demonstrates the artist’s ability to expand his visual language onto an architectural scale.
Its sheer size offers a different experience from standing before an individual painting. Graphic motifs unfold across a huge surface, encouraging the eye to travel, pause, and make connections. The mural also underscores an important aspect of Lichtenstein’s practice: his images were not confined to the traditional boundaries of a framed canvas.
The exhibition further explores his fascination with art history and the visual traditions that preceded him. Rouen Cathedral, Set III (1968–69), for example, revisits a subject associated with Claude Monet, while Little Big Painting(1965) plays with the conventions of gestural brushwork. These works reveal an artist who could examine the language of painting itself with the same curiosity he brought to comic strips and commercial graphics.
Artist’s Studio “The Dance” (1974) provides another perspective on his approach, drawing together art, art-making, and the visual references that informed his practice.
The variety of work throughout the galleries is part of what makes the exhibition so rewarding. Rather than reducing Lichtenstein to a single signature style, it presents a restless, inventive artist continually testing the possibilities of images and the traditions through which they are understood.
When a Copy Becomes Something New
The title Like New captures one of the exhibition’s central ideas. Lichtenstein was fascinated by the movement of images from one context to another: from comic books and advertisements to paintings, from familiar cultural references to objects encountered in museums.
His first exhibition of Pop-style work at Leo Castelli Gallery in 1962 became a defining moment in his career. For the first time, Like New brings together all the works from that landmark presentation, allowing visitors to reconsider the moment when his distinctive approach made such an impact on the art world.
The exhibition also includes works by artists Louise Lawler, Richard Pettibone, and Sturtevant, whose practices offer additional perspectives on copying, appropriation, artistic influence, and the relationship between an original and its subsequent versions.
These connections make the exhibition more than a retrospective of one artist. They open a broader conversation about how art develops, how artists respond to one another, and how meaning changes as images circulate through culture.
Why Lichtenstein Feels So Relevant Today
The exhibition’s ideas resonate particularly strongly in a world saturated with digital imagery. Photographs are cropped, filtered, reposted, manipulated, and generated in seconds. Images travel across platforms and audiences, often far removed from their original context. The distinctions between source material, reproduction, and new creation have become increasingly difficult to navigate.
In its review of Like New, The New York Times considers this contemporary landscape in relation to Lichtenstein’s work, suggesting that his artistic concerns deserve a more searching examination than his familiar Pop Art reputation might imply. His dots and carefully constructed compositions were not simply a way of imitating mass-produced images. They reflected a sustained interest in how images are made, perceived, and transformed.
That perspective adds a new dimension to the exhibition. Lichtenstein was working with these questions long before digital platforms and artificial intelligence made the reuse of images an everyday experience. His art invites us to think about the human decisions involved in selecting, altering, and interpreting what we see.
There is also an important distinction between an image that merely reproduces a familiar visual effect and an artwork that uses that effect to make us think. Lichtenstein’s precision, his attention to visual structure, and his deliberate manipulation of his sources give his work a character that extends beyond its instantly recognizable appearance.
An Invitation to Look Again
What stayed with us after the visit was the extraordinary richness of the exhibition. The range of works, the scale of the installations, and the unexpected relationships between familiar masterpieces and less familiar pieces create an experience that rewards close attention.
Lichtenstein’s art can seem deceptively accessible. We recognize the imagery, understand the visual references, and respond to the humor and graphic immediacy. But Roy Lichtenstein: Like New asks us to slow down and look more carefully. Beneath the crisp surfaces lies a sustained exploration of perception, repetition, artistic authorship, and the ever-changing life of images.
For longtime admirers of Lichtenstein, the exhibition offers an opportunity to see a familiar artist from a fresh perspective. For visitors discovering his work for the first time, it provides an engaging introduction to an artist whose influence reaches far beyond the Pop Art movement.
We left impressed not only by the number and variety of works on view, but also by the depth of thought that connects them. This is an exhibition that reminds us that seeing is not a passive act. Images shape our understanding of the world, but the way we look at them can change what we understand.
Roy Lichtenstein: Like New is a major exhibition for anyone interested in modern and contemporary art, visual culture, and the enduring power of images. At the Whitney, a body of work that once challenged conventional ideas about art continues to do exactly that.
Exhibition Information
Roy Lichtenstein: Like New
Whitney Museum of American Art
99 Gansevoort Street, New York, NY
Dates: October 11, 2026–May 10, 2027
Member previews: October 8–10, 2026
For exhibition details, tickets, and visitor information, visit the Whitney Museum’s official exhibition page.