The Charge
1948/1949
Image not available — this artwork is under copyright
View on museum website →Medium
pastel on paper
Dimensions
sheet: 50.8 × 32.86 cm (20 × 12 15/16 in.)
Classification
Drawing
Department
CG-W
Museum
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Credit
Gift of Renée Tolcott in honor of her brother, Roy Lichtenstein
Accession Number
2011.133.3
Art Historical Context
**The Charge** (1948/1949) is an early drawing by Roy Lichtenstein, the celebrated Pop Art pioneer, created when he was in his mid-twenties. Executed in pastel on paper—a medium prized for its vibrant colors, soft blending, and immediacy—this intimate work measures 50.8 × 32.86 cm, inviting close contemplation. Housed in the National Gallery of Art's CG-W Department and classified as a drawing, it offers a rare glimpse into Lichtenstein's formative years, well before his iconic comic-inspired masterpieces of the 1960s. The title evokes energy and motion, suggesting a dynamic scene captured wi...
About the Artist
Roy Lichtenstein
Roy Lichtenstein was born on October 27, 1923, in New York City to Milton Lichtenstein, a real estate broker, and Beatrice Werner Lichtenstein, a homemaker with musical training, in an upper-middle-class German-Jewish family. Growing up on the Upper West Side, he displayed early artistic talent, sketching jazz musicians and visiting museums like the Museum of Modern Art. In 1939, he studied painti...