Portrait of John McEnroe and Tatum O’Neal 1986

Andy Warhol created this double portrait of tennis star John McEnroe and actress Tatum O’Neal, likely in the 1980s, using his signature screen-printing technique. Warhol made his name in the 1960s, turning images of celebrities and consumer products into high art. In doing so, he was commenting on a culture that increasingly worshipped fame and success, creating a new kind of visual language in the process. Here, he depicts a celebrity couple who were famous not just for their accomplishments, but also for their tumultuous personal life. Warhol turns them into commodities, their faces becoming just another product to be consumed by the public. As art historians, we look at how the artist's own biography and experiences might have shaped his work, and how the institutions of art, such as galleries and museums, influenced its reception. We might consult celebrity gossip magazines of the day or delve into the social and economic history of the 1980s to better understand this artwork.