Queen Ntombi Twala of Swaziland, Reigning Queens series (Feldman and Schellmann II.349)

Notes

Printed by Rupert Jasen Smith, New York, published by George C.P. Mulder, Amsterdam.

Andy Warhol’s Queen Ntombi Twala of Swaziland forms part of his celebrated Reigning Queens series, created in 1985. In this body of work, Warhol turned his signature Pop Art lens toward contemporary female monarchs, depicting Queen Elizabeth II (United Kingdom), Queen Beatrix (the Netherlands), Queen Margrethe II (Denmark), and Queen Ntombi Twala (Swaziland, today Eswatini). By including Queen Ntombi, Warhol expanded his exploration of celebrity and power beyond the Western world, acknowledging African sovereignty within his visual vocabulary of global icons.

The portrait is instantly recognisable: flat blocks of vivid colour, screenprinted photographic outlines, and a striking, almost electric palette. Against a saturated red background, Queen Ntombi emerges in blue-grey tones, her regal attire highlighted in orange and red. Her traditional Swazi headdress, rendered with bold graphic contrast, forms a radiant halo-like shape above her head. The effect imbues the Queen with both dignity and glamour, while also reflecting Warhol’s fascination with the interplay between cultural symbolism and mass-media aesthetics.

Warhol’s Reigning Queens series came at a late stage in his career, when he was revisiting portraiture as a key genre. Known for immortalising Hollywood stars and consumer products, Warhol approached monarchs in a similar way: as figures whose faces circulate globally, embodying both tradition and spectacle. By placing Queen Ntombi alongside European royals, Warhol not only underscored her role as one of the world’s reigning queens but also challenged Western audiences to reconsider their own perceptions of African leadership, female authority, and representation.

Literature

Frayda Feldman and Jörg Schellmann (2003) Andy Warhol Prints: Catalogue Raisonné 1962 – 1987, New York: Distributed Art Publishers, cat. no. II.349.