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Lichtenstein is one of the most prominent artistic innovators of the twentieth century and a pre-eminent exponent of pop art. His colourful and energetic work fuses motifs from the traditions of abstract and figurative painting with imagery sourced from advertising and comic books. This synthesis of so called ‘high’ and ‘low’ culture is illustrative of the playfully eclectic tendencies of postmodernism in the visual arts. With roots in cubism and expressionism, Lichtenstein adopted the abstract expressionist style while living in New York in the late 1950s. By the early 1960s he began incorporating elements of popular imagery into his work, basing large-scale paintings on comic book panels, and using techniques which replicated the Ben-day dots used in pulp comic books of the time, and which became a hallmark of Lichtenstein’s style. The dynamic imagery and sense of humour which run through his oeuvre have made him one of the most respected and sought after figures in 20th century art.