Marisol – Hans Namuth 1964

Louisiana Postcard with portrait of Marisol taken by photographer Hans Namuth, 1964. The postcard was published in connection with Louisiana’s exhibition in 2025

Marisol (1930-2016) stands as one of the most radical and visionary artists of her generation. She was born María Sol Escobar in Paris to a Venezuelan family, and died in New York, where she lived and worked for much of her life from 1950. Although she achieved enormous fame, especially in the United States, and although her life's work is imbued with an original, artistic vision, there has never been a comprehensive presentation of the artist here in Europe.

Marisol broke onto the international art scene in the early 1960s and became a central and highly successful figure in the New York art scene. Here she became close friends with Andy Warhol, who was both fascinated by and inspired by her early in his career.

Marisol had her own unique expression within pop art with her painted and carved wooden sculptures of figures on an almost human scale. They were often combined with found objects in larger tableaux, where she mixes pop art with folk art. References are found both to early cultures in Central and South America, but also to the emerging American consumerism and celebrity cult of the time. And then she uses the self-portrait again and again as a focal point.