In a subterranean gallery, 5 queens are gathered. 4 of them are diamond dust-embellished Andy Warhol display screen prints; the fifth is without doubt one of the topics, Beatrix of the Netherlands, right here in particular person. The opposite three are Elizabeth II of Nice Britain, Margrethe of Denmark, and Ntombi Tfwala of what was once Swaziland, and is now Eswatini.
Princess Beatrix, as she is formally recognized since her 2013 abdication, has come to the Paleis Het Bathroom in Apeldoorn—previously one among her household’s houses, now a museum—to see Queens by Andy Warhol, opening this weekend (12 October-1 January 2025). The thought of exhibiting the 16-piece landmark Warhol collection (every queen is portrayed 4 methods) got here to the Paleis Het Bathroom employees final January, explains the director Frans van der Avert. “It was due to the abdication of Queen Margrethe—this meant none of them have been any longer reigning queens.” Elizabeth died in 2022, whereas Ntombi’s reign as regent led to 1986 when her son, Prince Makhosetive, turned king.
Queen Beatrix Of The Netherlands from Andy Warhol’s Reigning Queens (1985) on present on the Paleis Het Bathroom Photograph: courtesy of Paleis Het Bathroom
The Reigning Queens collection was conceived within the early Eighties; Warhol’s vendor, George Mulder, got here up with the concept, after which approached the 4 ladies who have been the world’s solely feminine monarchs, to ask their permission. Beatrix was instantly optimistic; Elizabeth stated she wouldn’t stand in his means. Margrethe, who didn’t approve of Warhol’s life-style, was initially hesitant, and Ntombi refused to have interaction with the concept in any respect.
“Ultimately Mulder went to Swaziland and got here residence with a press {photograph}, which was used as the premise for the portrait,” says the exhibition’s curator Hanna Klarenbeek. The opposite queens finally agreed to their official portraits getting used as the premise for the undertaking; however Ntombi’s inclusion was towards her will.
“Her consultant requested Mulder twice to not do it. It is a story we’re telling on this exhibition for the primary time,” Klarenbeek says. Including to the insult, Warhol even added a completely inappropriate function headdress; Klarenbeek sees the incident as a precursor to a scenario all too frequent in right this moment’s digital age, the stealing of a picture and its manipulation in a means the portrait’s proprietor didn’t sanction.
Warhol—who stated of Reigning Queens that “everyone is aware of I’m a queen, however the portraits are of Royal ones”—completed the collection in 1985, in two editions, one among 40 and the opposite, of 30, embellished with what he referred to as ‘diamond mud’, tiny particles of sparkly glass. Many of the collection has been damaged up, and the Paleis Het Bathroom owns one among solely two intact ‘diamond mud’ units in museum collections—that is the primary time it’s been exhibited for 25 years. The British Royal Assortment, in the meantime, acquired 4 Elizabeth prints in 2012 for the Diamond Jubilee; they’re the gathering’s solely portraits of the late Queen for which she didn’t sit.
In the meantime, the story of the world’s real-life reigning queens is that after Marguerite stepped down in January there have been, for some time, none in any respect. However final month Nga wai hono i te po was anointed Māori Queen of New Zealand. And ready within the wings in Europe are Princesses Catharina-Amalia of the Netherlands, Leonor of Spain, Victoria of Sweden and Elisabeth of Belgium.
