Few works from Andy Warhol’s extraordinary career so eloquently bridge the worlds of Pop Art and art history as Eva Mudocci (After Munch). Created in 1984 as part of Warhol’s celebrated After Munch series, this remarkable screenprint pays homage to Norwegian master Edvard Munch while transforming one of his most psychologically compelling portraits into an unmistakably Warholian icon. Warhol’s After Munch project reimagined four of Munch’s most significant subjects—The Scream, Madonna, Self-Portrait with Skeleton Arm, and Eva Mudocci—marking one of the artist’s final and most intellectually ambitious bodies of work.
Unlike Warhol’s celebrated portraits of Marilyn Monroe, Mick Jagger, or Elizabeth Taylor, Eva Mudocci reflects the artist’s fascination with the enduring power of historical imagery. The subject, Eva Mudocci (born Evangeline Muddock), was a British concert violinist and one of Edvard Munch’s most captivating muses. Warhol replaces Munch’s brooding Symbolist palette with luminous silvers and vibrant fields of color, transforming a deeply introspective portrait into a striking meditation on beauty, identity, fame, and the reproduction of cultural icons.
A Rare Unpublished Unique Color Variant
What distinguishes this work from the published Eva Mudocci edition is its exceptional rarity.
While Warhol’s published Eva Mudocci (After Munch) (Feldman & Schellmann IIIA.59) exists as a documented edition of sixty impressions, the present work is not from that edition. Instead, it belongs to the small group of unpublished unique color variants retained by the Andy Warhol Foundation following the artist’s death. Each example possesses its own individual color palette and Foundation inventory designation, making every work a unique object rather than a conventional editioned print. Auction houses consistently describe these as works from a “small unpublished edition of unique colour variants.”
This example bears:
- Estate of Andy Warhol stamp (verso)
- Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts stamp (verso)
- Foundation inventory designation UP34.54
- Printed by Rupert Jasen Smith, New York
The “UP” designation (“Unique Print”) identifies the work as part of the Foundation’s unpublished inventory and should not be confused with an edition number.
Historical Significance
Created only a few years before Warhol’s death, the After Munch series demonstrates the artist’s increasing engagement with mortality, artistic legacy, and the relationship between historical masterpieces and contemporary culture. Just as Warhol had transformed celebrities into universal icons throughout his career, he now elevated masterpieces of art history into the language of Pop, recognizing that paintings such as The Scream had themselves become globally recognizable cultural symbols.
Today, unpublished After Munch works remain among the most intriguing and least frequently encountered of Warhol’s late prints. Their rarity, historical importance, and Foundation provenance have made them increasingly desirable among sophisticated collectors seeking exceptional examples from the artist’s final creative years.
Artwork Details
Artist: Andy Warhol (American, 1928–1987)
Title: Eva Mudocci (After Munch)
Date: 1984
Medium: Screenprint in a unique combination of colors on Lenox Museum Board
Printer: Rupert Jasen Smith, New York
Authentication:
- Estate of Andy Warhol stamp (verso)
- Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts stamp (verso)
- Foundation inventory designation: UP34.54
Literature:
Referenced in Feldman & Schellmann, Andy Warhol Prints: A Catalogue Raisonné 1962–1987 (related published edition IIIA.59).
Provenance:
- Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts
- Sotheby’s
- Private Collection, United Kingdom
Condition:
Very good overall condition with fresh, vibrant colors. Minor professionally disclosed conservation to the silver background near the upper sheet edge, consistent with the accompanying condition report.
Price: Available upon request.
