pop art

American  

Or Pop Art

noun

1. an art movement that began in the U.S. in the 1950s and reached its peak of activity in the 1960s, chose as its subject matter the anonymous, everyday, standardized, and banal iconography in American life, as comic strips, billboards, commercial products, and celebrity images, and dealt with them typically in such forms as outsize commercially smooth paintings, mechanically reproduced silkscreens, large-scale facsimiles, and soft sculptures.

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pop art British  

noun

1. a movement in modern art that imitates the methods, styles, and themes of popular culture and mass media, such as comic strips, advertising, and science fiction

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pop art Cultural  

1. Art that uses elements of popular culture, such as magazines, movies, popular music, and even bottles and cans. (See also Andy Warhol.)

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Other Word Forms

• pop artist noun

Etymology

Origin of pop art

First recorded in 1960–65

Example Sentences

It’s sort of like if Andy Warhol slapped his name on a can of Campbell’s soup — Warhol x Campbell’s Chicken & Stars — instead of painting them as pop art.

From Salon • Apr. 20, 2026

Her daughter Amy Goodman said her mother crisscrossed Europe looking for overlooked artists to champion in New York at a time when most local galleries remained devoted to homegrown pop art and minimalism.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 9, 2026

In Central California last week, the CHP stopped a Nissan Sentra that didn’t have a state-issued license plate but instead had a piece of homemade pop art on the back of the car.

From Los Angeles Times • Oct. 14, 2025

Among the artwork is Warhol's portrait of Farah Pahlavi - Iran's last queen - a rare piece blending his pop art flair with Iranian cultural history.

From BBC • Feb. 16, 2025

“I hope it’ll raise up Seattle University,” he said, sitting in his living room near a massive, collagelike painting by pop art icon Roy Lichtenstein and a lithe, limestone Max Ernst statue.

From Seattle Times • Mar. 13, 2024