Roy Lichtenstein’s Suspended Mobile (1990) is a work of graceful paradox — a bold translation of movement into stillness, of sculpture into image, and of spontaneity into order. In this refined late-period composition, Lichtenstein reimagines the spirit of Alexander Calder’s kinetic mobiles through the disciplined language of Pop abstraction, turning the delicate dance of balance and gravity into a visual symphony of geometry, color, and form.

The composition evokes the illusion of floating shapes — elliptical and biomorphic forms — delicately tethered by thin linear connectors that seem to sway within an invisible air current. Yet this movement is entirely conceptual: every curve, contour, and intersection is rendered with mathematical clarity and precise control. Lichtenstein’s signature black outlines, Ben-Day dot patterns, and restrained color fields of red, yellow, blue, and white create a serene yet vibrant orchestration. Each element appears to hover in perfect equilibrium, suspended not by wire or wind, but by the logic of design.

The title Suspended Mobile signals both homage and reinterpretation. Where Calder’s mobiles celebrated chance, motion, and the tactile freedom of sculpture, Lichtenstein’s version captures their essence within the static perfection of print and paint. The result is not a mechanical reproduction of a mobile, but a philosophical translation — an exploration of how energy and motion can exist within the rigor of two-dimensional space.

By the 1990s, Lichtenstein had achieved a state of artistic serenity: irony had evolved into reflection, and his Pop vocabulary had become a vehicle for timeless abstraction. In Suspended Mobile, he celebrates the lineage of modernism while subtly questioning it — rendering in flat pigment what once relied on motion and air. The piece becomes both tribute and transformation, a meditation on how ideas move across media, generations, and sensibilities.

Created in 1990, this Lichtenstein pop art Screenprint  in colors is hand-signed by Roy Lichtenstein (New York, 1923 – New York, 1997) in pencil: ‘rf Lichtenstein’.  Numbered from the edition of 19, this work is published by Original Editions, New York.

Catalogue Raisonné & COA:

Roy Lichtenstein, Suspended Mobile, 1990 is fully documented and referenced in the below catalogue raisonnés and texts (copies will be enclosed as added documentation with the invoices that will accompany the final sale of the work).

1. Corlett, Lee Mary. The Prints of Roy Lichtenstein A Catalogue Raisonee 1948-1997. Hudson Hills Press: New York, 1994. Listed and illustrated as catalogue raisonné no. 256 on pg. 235.
2. A Certificate of Authenticity will accompany this work.

About the Framing:

Roy Lichtenstein, Suspended Mobile, 1990 is framed to museum-grade, conservation standards, presented in a complementary moulding and finished with silk-wrapped mats and optical grade Plexiglas.