Andy Warhol’s preoccupation with the status of icons contributed much subject matter to his oeuvre. Over the years he became known for re-using images from popular culture—commercial products, celebrities—even advertisements themselves.

Jacqueline Kennedy II portrays the First Lady twice on the same sheet of metallic pink paper, evoking a somber mood, as the source image is from the funeral procession for John F. Kennedy. The black ink on pink references the famous Chanel suit the First Lady was wearing when her husband was assassinated. We see Mrs. Kennedy in a moment when she is vulnerable, quiet and stoic, wearing a mourning veil, known as a mantilla, during the procession. Warhol negates the power she has as an individual by presenting the composition as a multiple. This makes her less singular, and the emotions associated with her loss more relatable. She is not the First Lady, or the Jackie O. we came to know, but a woman in pain.