Girl with Ball

1961 · Painting

Can I see it?

Not on view at present

Where is “Girl with Ball” now? Collection: The Museum of Modern Art, New York. Not on view at present. Checked September 22, 2026.

The Museum of Modern Art

New York, United States

It belongs to the collection, but is not on display at present.

Checked: 18 days ago
Source: The museum

On the map Museum page

About the painting

Girl with Ball is a 1961 painting by Roy Lichtenstein. It is an oil on canvas Pop art work that is now in the collection of the Museum of Modern Art, after being owned for several decades by Philip Johnson. It is one of Lichtenstein's earliest Pop art works and is known for its source, which is a newspaper ad that ran for several decades and which was among Lichtenstein's earliest works sourced from pop culture.

Girl with Ball was exhibited at Lichtenstein's first solo exhibition and was displayed in Newsweek's review of the show. This work significantly alters the original source and is considered exemplary of Lichtenstein's works that exaggerate the mechanically produced appearance although the result of his painterly work. It is an enduring depiction of the contemporary beauty figure.

Wikipedia CC BY-SA

Details

Accession number: 421.1981

In the catalog

Paintings Oil American painting Post-war art 20th century

Sources

The Museum of Modern Art
Image: The Museum of Modern Art — © the artist or rights holder

In the life of Roy Lichtenstein

The whole life

1957–1960
Employed by: State University of New York at Oswego
1960
Rutgers and the influence of Allan Kaprow
In 1960 Lichtenstein began teaching at Rutgers University, where he was heavily influenced by Allan Kaprow, who also taught there. The environment reignited his interest in proto-Pop imagery.
1961
The turn to Pop Art: a challenge from his son
In 1961 Lichtenstein began his first Pop paintings, using cartoon images and techniques derived from commercial printing; the first work to use hard-edged figures and Ben-Day dots on a large scale was “Look Mickey”. The push came from his son, who, as the artist told it, pointed to a Mickey Mouse comic book and doubted that his father could paint as well.
1961
Leo Castelli begins showing his work
In 1961 Leo Castelli began displaying Lichtenstein’s work at his gallery in New York.
1962
The Castelli show sells out before it opens
Lichtenstein’s first one-man show at the Castelli gallery took place in 1962: the entire collection was bought by influential collectors before it even opened. The Leo Castelli Gallery has represented him exclusively since then.
1963–1964
Leaves Rutgers and returns to New York
In September 1963 Lichtenstein took a leave of absence from Douglass College at Rutgers; in 1964 he moved back to New York to be at the centre of the art scene and resigned from Rutgers to concentrate on his painting.