Modern Painting with Bolt 1967

Roy Lichtenstein made this painting, Modern Painting with Bolt, with oil and magna on canvas. Look how Lichtenstein simplifies everything, flattening the image like a comic book, but it's also got this super graphic punch. He uses colour blocking to define shapes and forms: areas of solid red, blue and yellow are punctuated with his signature Ben-Day dots. It's like he's blowing up a tiny detail, those halftone dots, into a major statement about painting itself. The bolt of lightning cuts through the composition, charged with energy. The dots aren't just decoration, they're part of the structure. Lichtenstein always reminds me of Fernand Léger, another artist who loved bold lines and simplified forms. Art is like a big conversation, everyone borrowing and riffing off each other! It’s not about saying one thing, but about opening up possibilities.