When Yoko Ate Ringo 

Dave Macdowell made "When Yoko Ate Ringo" in the 20th century. The painting is a complex web of references to the Beatles’ late 1960s output and the band’s subsequent break up. The psychedelic imagery, recalling the Sgt. Pepper era, coexists with a sinister scene of Yoko Ono depicted as a monstrous tree, devouring Ringo Starr. The other band members look on, seemingly powerless. The painting may be interpreted as a comment on the pervasive narrative, circulated in the popular press, that Yoko Ono was responsible for the Beatles’ demise. The painting prompts us to consider the social conditions that shaped these images. What anxieties were projected onto Yoko Ono, and why? What role did misogyny and racism play in the construction of this narrative? By examining popular publications from the period, such as newspapers, fan magazines, and biographies, we can begin to understand the cultural forces that influenced Macdowell’s painting and the ways in which it reflects the social norms of its time.