Title: Drowning Girl
Description: Drowning Girl (also known as Secret Hearts or I Don't Care! I'd Rather Sink) is a 1963 painting in oil and synthetic polymer paint on canvas by Roy Lichtenstein. Utilizing the conventions of comic book art, a thought bubble conveys the thoughts of the figure, while Ben-Day dots echo the effect of the mechanized printing process. It is one of the most representative paintings of the pop art movement, and part of the Museum of Modern Art's permanent collection since 1971. The painting is considered among Lichtenstein's most significant works, perhaps on a par with his acclaimed 1963 diptych Whaam!. Drowning Girl has been described as a "masterpiece of melodrama", and is one of the artist's earliest images depicting women in tragic situations, a theme to which he often returned in the mid-1960s. The painting shows a teary-eyed woman on a turbulent sea. She is emotionally distressed, seemingly from a romance. She declares that she would rather sink in the ocean than call Brad. This is revealed through a thought bubble that provides the narrative element: "I Don't Care! I'd Rather Sink — Than Call Brad For Help!" The narrative element highlights the clichéd melodrama, while its graphics reiterate Lichtenstein's theme of painterly work imitating mechanized reproduction. The work is derived from a 1962 DC Comics panel, while also borrowing from Hokusai's The Great Wave off Kanagawa and from elements of modernist artists Jean Arp and Joan Miró. It is one of several Lichtenstein works that mention a character named Brad who is absent from the picture. Both the graphical and narrative elements of the work are significantly cropped from the source image.
Author(s): Roy Lichtenstein