Whaam!

Whaam! is a 1963 painting by Roy Lichtenstein.

Whaam!

The painting is large in scale, measuring 4.0 x 1.7m and we can easily see dark tones combined with vivid colors. It is considered one of Lichtenstein’s war paintings by conveying "brilliant color and narrative situation". 

In fact, this painting is an adaptation from a comic-book panel from a 1962 issue of DC Comics' All-American Men of War.

Lichtenstein altered the source so that the exploding plane was more prominent than in the original relative to the dominant conquering plane.

Even the title of this painting is in true connection with the painting by conveying the idea that the crash of both planes would emit the sound Whaam! .

Original comic book panel

By dealing with a comic book panel, this painting easily illustrates Pop Art’s ideals, that everything, even things that could be considered useless, could, in fact, become art. Pop Art was in the 60’s a movement that broke free from all the previous ideals of art and that, in one way or another, influenced the way art is appreciated nowadays.