Farah Diba Pahlavi (Empress of Iran) 1976

Andy Warhol made this small polaroid of Farah Diba Pahlavi, the Empress of Iran, sometime during his lifetime. You can see the Empress's head and shoulders; it's a pretty standard portrait. I wonder, was this a preliminary sketch for one of his silk-screened paintings? He must have taken hundreds of these kinds of photos, just as source material. What was it like to be in Warhol's studio while he was making these? There is an amazing coolness to this photo. The colour of the Empress’s hair and skin is so smooth, and her eyes dark and focused. I wonder how she felt at that moment. Warhol was such a strange character! It's interesting to see this, a document of a source document – like a painting of a painting. It just goes to show that artists are always in conversation with each other, building on what came before. Each brushstroke, each click of the camera, adds another layer to the ongoing story of art.