Look Mickey

1961 · Painting

May one see it?

Not receiving at present

National Gallery of Art

Washington, D.C., United States

It belongs to the collection, but is not on display at present.

Checked: 3 days ago
In this state since: Aug 19, 2026
Source: The museum's own collection data

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About the painting

Look Mickey (also known as Look Mickey!) is a 1961 oil on canvas painting by Roy Lichtenstein. Widely regarded as the bridge between his abstract expressionism and pop art works, it is notable for its ironic humor and aesthetic value as well as being the first example of the artist's employment of Ben-Day dots, speech balloons and comic imagery as a source for a painting. The painting was bequeathed to the Washington, D.C., National Gallery of Art upon Lichtenstein's death.

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Building on his late 1950s drawings of comic strip characters, Look Mickey marks Lichtenstein's first full employment of painterly techniques to reproduce almost faithful representations of pop culture and so satirize and comment upon the then developing process of mass production of visual imagery. In this, Lichtenstein pioneered a motif that became influential not only in 1960s pop art but continuing to the work of artists today. Lichtenstein borrows from a Donald Duck illustrated story book, showing Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck during a fishing mishap. However, he makes significant alterations to the original source, including modifying the color scheme and perspective and adding a speech balloon, changing the original joke.

The work dates from Lichtenstein's first solo exhibition, and is regarded by art critics as revolutionary both as a progression of pop art and as a work of modern art in general. It was later reproduced in his 1973 painting Artist's Studio—Look Mickey, which shows the painting hanging prominently on a facing wall of Lichtenstein's studio.

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Particulars

Accession number: 1990.41.1

What it shows

Fantasy Mickey Mouse

In the catalog

American Pop

Sources

National Gallery of Art: the museum's own open data · fetched 3 days ago
Image: National Gallery of Art — © the artist or rights holder

Meanwhile, in the life of Roy Lichtenstein

The whole life

1957–1960
Employed by: State University of New York at Oswego
1960
Rutgers and the influence of Allan Kaprow
In 1960 Lichtenstein began teaching at Rutgers University, where he was heavily influenced by Allan Kaprow, who also taught there. The environment reignited his interest in proto-Pop imagery.
1961
The turn to Pop Art: a challenge from his son
In 1961 Lichtenstein began his first Pop paintings, using cartoon images and techniques derived from commercial printing; the first work to use hard-edged figures and Ben-Day dots on a large scale was “Look Mickey”. The push came from his son, who, as the artist told it, pointed to a Mickey Mouse comic book and doubted that his father could paint as well.
1961
Leo Castelli begins showing his work
In 1961 Leo Castelli began displaying Lichtenstein’s work at his gallery in New York.
1962
The Castelli show sells out before it opens
Lichtenstein’s first one-man show at the Castelli gallery took place in 1962: the entire collection was bought by influential collectors before it even opened. The Leo Castelli Gallery has represented him exclusively since then.
1963–1964
Leaves Rutgers and returns to New York
In September 1963 Lichtenstein took a leave of absence from Douglass College at Rutgers; in 1964 he moved back to New York to be at the centre of the art scene and resigned from Rutgers to concentrate on his painting.