Warhol’s Beethoven portfolio, published posthumously in 1987, comprises four screen prints that reimagine the portrait of Ludwig van Beethoven through the lens of late Pop. Based on the 19th-century lithograph by Joseph Karl Stieler (1820), the series transforms the revered composer into an icon of modern image culture—flattened, abstracted, and layered with visual noise.

Rather than engage directly with music, Warhol presents Beethoven as a symbol of genius, fame, and mythologised identity. The musical notations layered across each print—taken from Beethoven’s Moonlight Sonata—serve more as graphic elements than references to sound. This visual repetition reinforces Warhol’s long-standing preoccupation with surface, reproduction, and cultural legacy.

Created shortly before Warhol’s death, the Beethoven series is now understood as one of his final and most poignant meditations on greatness and posterity. The portfolio echoes the artist’s earlier celebrity portraits, but instead of Hollywood glamour, it immortalises historical intellect within the same Pop framework.

Coskun Fine Art offers the complete Beethoven portfolio in excellent condition, with full authentication and provenance available upon request.