'The quintessential Pop portrait': Roy Lichtenstein’s Anxious Girl goes up for auction

Published on 29/04/2026 - 16:26 GMT+2

Pioneering Pop artist Roy Lichtenstein's 'Anxious Girl' painting, created in 1964 as part of his 'Girls' series, is heading for auction - and estimated to make up to $60 million (approximately €51 million).

The painting, which depicts a distressed looking young woman with blonde hair and blue eyes, was painted by Lichtenstein at the height of his career.

It originally belonged to Horace and Holly Solomon, two art collectors and pivotal figures within the '60s Pop movement, and then entered a private collection, disappearing for over 30 years from the public eye.

It's due to go under the hammer at Christie's 20th Century Evening Sale in New York, United States, on the 18 May, marking a rare opportunity to own one of Lichtenstein's most coveted pieces.

“'Anxious Girl' is the quintessential Pop portrait, a veritable icon of twentieth century art," Sara Friedlander from Christie's said in a press release.

"Compositionally, the painting showcases the artist's singular ability to distill complex visual cues into three core elements - line, colour, and form - and formally employ them into conveying deep human emotion through timeless love stories and comic book-inspired imagery."

Lichtenstein's works remain some of the world's most sought-after examples of 20th-century art, with his 1962 painting 'Masterpiece' fetching a record-breaking $165 million (€141 million) at auction in 2017.

Best known for his charismatic cartoon imagery and use of Ben-Day dots - a mechanical printing technique used in the production of comics - the American artist first began experimenting with Pop Art in 1961.

His methods of lifting imagery from comic book strips led to him becoming a controversial figure, and sparked heated debate around the difference between plagiarism and artistic appropriation.

The 'Anxious Girl' imagery comes from DC's 'Girls' Romances' anthology, titled 'Too Much to Ask!'

In the original comic, she is depicted as a heroine stuck between choosing two potential lovers - although her face here does not bear the same forehead crease.

Lichtenstein's 'Girls' series is arguably his most recognisable, featuring women in various states of melodrama. This is the first time in over a decade that one of its images has gone to auction, with the last being 'Nurse', which sold at Christie's in 2015 for $95 million (€81 million).