Warhol’s 1966 painting Marlon is one of only six images of the renegade actor’s image produced by Warhol.  Like his screen-queen  images of  Marilyn and Liz, the brooding character of Brando portraying Johnny the biker in The Wild One (1954) perfectly suits Warhol’s languorous treatment of his idols.  Silk-screened onto unprimed (unpainted) canvas, the painting has a raw, immediate quality unlike that of any other of the artist’s works. 

Lea Simonds, Chairman of the Board of The Andy Warhol Museum, says, “The Board was pleased to have the rare opportunity to purchase a work of such importance for the collection.  The painting is remarkable both for its formal and iconographic strengths, and we hope it will be perceived as a provocative and memorable image—one that will encourage increased interest in Warhol’s work and the activities of the museum.” 
Director Tom Sokolowski notes that this is the first major acquisition for the museum since the Founding gift was made by the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Inc.