Landscape Mobile (Limoges)

Roy Lichtenstein’s (1923-1997) 'Landscape Mobile' is a beautiful standing mobile designed as a table centerpiece in 1991. As one of the most prominent Pop artists of the late 20th century, Lichtenstein is best known for his signature style that draws on mass culture, specifically the comic book style of bold colors, strong line, exaggerated shape, and Ben-Day dots. In playful Pop fashion, Lichtenstein’s mobile represents various elements of nature - a tall tree with bushy leaves, two bubble-like clouds, slanting rain in the sky, and a bright yellow sun. The base of the tree is set in a green basin with a blue interior to represent the element of water. As a table centerpiece, Lichtenstein intended for the blue base to be filled with flowers. The Mobile takes on the traditional landscape subject, but also plays on Alexander Calder’s kinetic mobiles; while this mobile is in fact a non-moving object, Lichtenstein’s placement of floating objects gives a sense of shifting and balancing parts, invoking Calder’s standing mobiles or ‘stabiles.’