Following the success of Andy Warhol’s famous “Factory Edition” prints featuring Marilyn Monroe in the 1960s, Andy Warhol collaborated with two printmakers in Belgium known as Sunday B. Morning to create a second series of prints that played on the concept of mass production, which Warhol enjoyed commenting on through his art.
The prints were created with the same tools and methods as the original Marilyn series. Warhol eventually had a change of heart about the project, but it was too late as he had already supplied the necessary materials. When the Sunday B. Morning prints were first released in 1970, Warhol was not pleased and tried to stop production. However, the prints continued to be produced. To express his ironic dissatisfaction, he would sign them with “This is not by me. Andy Warhol” when presented with one.
Ownership of Sunday B. Morning has changed over time, but they continue to use the same printing process to produce the prints, which are considered to have more integrity than other unauthorized reproductions. In 2018, the Rochester Museum of Fine Arts coordinated a temporary art show featuring four of the Marilyn prints, which were eventually donated to the museum’s permanent collection by the current owners of Sunday B. Morning.
