'Roy Lichtenstein. Sweet Dreams, Baby!' at Kunstmuseum Basel
Switzerland
22 August 2026 - 14 March 2027

Kunstmuseum Basel presents ‘Roy Lichtenstein. Sweet Dreams, Baby!’, a major exhibition devoted to the printmaking of one of Pop Art’s most influential figures. On view from 22 August 2026 to 14 March 2027, the exhibition brings together approximately fifty works spanning Roy Lichtenstein’s career, many of which are being shown publicly for the first time.

At the heart of the exhibition is a significant gift from the Roy Lichtenstein Foundation. In 2023, marking the centenary of the artist’s birth, the Foundation donated thirty-three prints to the Kunstmuseum Basel’s Department of Prints and Drawings, helping to establish one of the most important collections of Lichtenstein’s work outside the United States. The exhibition presents these works alongside earlier holdings and important paintings, offering a broad perspective on the artist’s enduring engagement with printmaking.

From his iconic comic-book imagery and Ben-Day dots to still lifes, art-historical reinterpretations and decorative works, the exhibition reveals the remarkable range of Lichtenstein’s visual language. It also foregrounds his technical experimentation, encompassing screen printing, lithography, etching, woodcut, and linocut. Produced in close collaboration with leading print studios, some of these complex works required numerous printing processes and combined contrasting textures and surface effects.

‘Sweet Dreams, Baby!’ demonstrates that printmaking was far more than a secondary aspect of Lichtenstein’s practice. Through a medium defined by reproduction and technical innovation, he transformed images drawn from comics, consumer culture, and art history into works that are immediately recognisable.