''Suicide (Purple Jumping Man)'' is a 1963

silkscreen Screen printing is a printing technique where a mesh is used to transfer ink (or dye) onto a substrate, except in areas made impermeable to the ink by a blocking stencil. A blade or squeegee is moved across the screen to fill the open me ...

painting by American pop artist,

Andy Warhol Andy Warhol (; born Andrew Warhola Jr.; August 6, 1928 – February 22, 1987) was an American visual artist, film director, and producer who was a leading figure in the Art movement, visual art movement known as pop art. His works explore th ...

. It is currently in the collection of the

Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art, ( Persian: موزه هنرهای معاصر تهران), also known as TMoCA, is among the largest art museums in Tehran and Iran. It has collections of more than 3,000 items that include 19th and 20th centur ...

Tehran Tehran (; fa, تهران ) is the largest city in Tehran Province and the capital of Iran. With a population of around 9 million in the city and around 16 million in the larger metropolitan area of Greater Tehran, Tehran is the most popul ...

History

During 1970s Iran's oil revenue had increased and the king and queen of Iran, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi and

Farah Diba Farah Pahlavi ( fa, فرح پهلوی, née Farah Diba ( fa, فرح دیبا, label=none); born 14 October 1938) is the widow of the last Shah of Iran, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, and was successively Queen and Empress (''Shahbanu'') of Iran from ...

decided to establish a museum of contemporary art in order to modernize their country. ''Suicide (Purple Jumping Man)'' was among the paintings that

Tony Shafrazi Tony Shafrazi (born May 8, 1943), is an American art dealer, gallery owner, and artist. He is the owner of the ''Shafrazi Art Gallery'' in New York City who deals artwork by artists such as Francis Bacon, Keith Haring, and David LaChapelle. Early ...

, the Iranian-born American art dealer, bought for the collection of this museum. At that time,

was interested in the idea and painted portraits of the king and his wife.

Style

''Suicide (Purple Jumping Man)'' depicts two images in sequence, recorded by a documentary photographer, silk-screened in black ink on a purple ground. According to

, ''Suicide (Purple Jumping Man)'' is one of the greatest works of Warhol. Shafrazi estimates the painting's value at 70 million dollars.

Notes

References

* * * * {{Warhol Paintings by Andy Warhol 1963 paintings Paintings in the collection of the Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art Paintings about suicide