The Canal Foundation opens an exhibition dedicated to the Lichtenstein posters on Thursday, October 4th. The designer facet of this artist has made him a global icon in the field of posters. In this showing, there will be a total of 76 pieces, many of them travelling to our country for the first time.

Roy Lichtenstein, “Crying Girl”, 1963

American Pop Art identifies with the work of three paradigmatic creators: Robert Indiana, Andy Warhol and Roy Lichtenstein, although each of them developed a unique and personal style that allows distinguishing their work within the pop movement. If Warhol opted to exploit the figure of the media-icons of the moment with techniques based on mass reproduction and copy-interventions, Lichtenstein focused on comics and the exploration of a likewise iconographic aesthetic, albeit starting with characters in vignettes. His plastic composition, closer to the printed images of newspapers and magazines, became a reference of this artistic style, based on the strong contrast of colours, the figures outlined on dotted backgrounds and the use of motifs connected with advertising and graphic novel.

Roy Lichtenstein, “M-Maybe”, 1965

His work, in fact, drinks from the trend of mass production where the importance of the single piece, a symbol of a period already surpassed in the history of art, is left aside, to focus on gaining visibility through infinite copies. This approach to artistic creation is only a sign of the moment, a time when factories and industry reach the peak of their productivity and need a public, avid of objects to feel part of a hyper-consumer society.

Roy Lichtenstein, “Sunrise”, 1965

Paradoxically, the motifs chosen by Lichtenstein for his multiple copies ironise on the inherited standards of a society already transformed, but that resists change by imposing clichés and stereotypes. His pieces of women with kitchen tools, trapped in the inertia of everyday life, or the faces of young ladies in distress, with a standardised beauty representative of the pin-up canons still present in the comics, collide with the changing course of times where individualism gains prominence against the homogenisation of tastes and patterns of consumption. Feeling unique in the magma of globalisation, in a moment of artistic awakening in which such a concept had not even been named, is an almost visionary position that Lichtenstein manages to convey without falling into the drama or losing the freshness and visual force of his creative proposal.

Did you feel like seeing more? Or would you simply like to come back? The 360º Virtual Tour of Art Madrid’26 is now available, allowing you to explore the entire fair from anywhere, at any time.

Stroll through each stand, pause in front of the works that interest you most, and rediscover those spaces you can only truly appreciate when you have all the time in the world. No rush—just the same light and atmosphere that made this edition so special.

To bring this immersive experience to life, we once again collaborated with Coke Riera Studio and Panotour technology. The result: over 4,000 photographs captured at key points throughout the fair, transformed into a high-quality interactive experience where every detail of each artwork is within reach of your screen.

We’re delighted to continue bringing contemporary art closer to everyone in this way. Now it’s your turn: EXPLORE IT and SHARE IT with anyone you think will enjoy it as much as you do.

There’s no better time to experience Art Madrid’26—whenever you want, wherever you are.