Whaam!

A 1963 diptych painting by Roy Lichtenstein shows a fighter jet firing a missile at another aircraft in comic-book style.

Diptych: An artwork composed of two panels or hinged sections. Whaam! divides its action across two panels, separating the firing jet from the explosion.
Roy Lichtenstein: An American Pop artist known for paintings that adapted commercial printing and comic-book imagery. He painted Whaam! in 1963.
Appropriation art: Art that deliberately borrows or reuses existing images, objects, or styles. Whaam! adapts an existing comic panel rather than inventing its imagery from scratch.
Tate: A network of British art museums that includes Tate Modern and Tate Britain. Tate acquired Whaam! in 1966, and the painting remains part of its collection.
Ben-Day dots: A printing technique that uses small colored dots to create shading and texture. Lichtenstein painted dot patterns that evoke the mechanical look of comic-book printing.
All-American Men of War: A DC Comics war anthology series published from 1952 to 1966. A panel from this series supplied the source imagery for Whaam!.
Abstract expressionism: A postwar art movement emphasizing spontaneous gesture, abstraction, and subjective expression. Lichtenstein's precise, impersonal imagery opposed the expressive brushwork prized by many Abstract Expressionists.
Copyright in art: The legal protection of creative works and the rights to reproduce or adapt them. Whaam!'s borrowing of published comic imagery raises questions about artistic reuse and copyright.
Speech balloon: A graphic shape that assigns words or sounds to a character in comics. The painting's large “WHAAM!” balloon makes the missile strike audible as graphic text.
Irving Lichtenstein: A comic-book artist who drew the source panel adapted for Whaam!. His image of an aircraft firing a missile was reworked by Roy Lichtenstein.

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Drowning GirlRelated: It is a contemporaneous example of his comic-derived painting practice.