Andy Warhol - Signed, dated & numbered - Electric Chair II.79

1971

Electric Chair 79 is a screen print from the artist’s Electric Chair Complete Portfolio (1971) —one of the most haunting and politically charged series in his entire body of work. The complete set features ten variations of a single photograph depicting the death chamber at New York’s Sing Sing Prison.  
Signed and dated ´71 in pencil lower left on verso 
Numbered with a rubber stamp on verso. From an edition of 250 
Copyright stamp “Copiright Factory Additions Edition Bischofberger Zürich” on verso. 
Sheet size: 90.2 x 121.9 cm

This particular version—executed in a striking brown and blue palette—is widely regarded as the most desirable color variant among the ten in the edition, due to its stark emotional intensity and graphic impact.

Electric Chair 79 has its roots in Warhol’s Death and Disaster series from the early 1960s, where he boldly confronted themes of mortality, violence, and institutional power.
Printer : Silkprint Kettner, Zurich Switzerland
Publisher : Bruno Bischofberger, Zurich Switzerland
Literature :  Andy Warhol Prints: A Catalogue Raisonné 1962–1987 by Feldman & Schellmann, II.79.

The image depicts an empty electric chair set in a bleak, institutional room—a ghostly stage awaiting an unseen subject. Warhol transforms this chilling scene through his iconic silkscreen process, heightening its emotional detachment while underscoring the banality of state-sanctioned violence. The choice of blue and brown tones lends the work a melancholic, almost meditative quality that sharply contrasts with its underlying horror.