Muhammad Ali 1977

This is Andy Warhol’s portrait of Muhammad Ali. It's a painting with a screen-printed image, all jazzed up with bright colors, and you can really see how the artmaking is a process, building up layers of image and paint. Warhol is a master of surface, right? Here, the way he’s laid down the colors – that sunshine-y yellow, the almost bruised purple of the gloves – it’s all so physical, like he's wrestling with the image. Look at how the yellow strokes kind of radiate out from Ali's head, like a halo, or maybe like the energy of his presence is too much for the canvas to contain. The paint isn’t trying to hide itself. It’s thick in places, thin in others, all part of the show. Warhol’s kind of like a modern-day Velázquez, elevating his subjects to almost mythical status, but with a wink. It's about fame, sure, but it’s also about how we see and what we choose to worship. It’s loose, it’s pop, and it’s open to interpretation – just like any good fight.