A popular art movement born in England after the Second World War, Pop Art developed considerably in the United States, where society was strongly influenced by the rise of consumerism. The themes borrowed were those of everyday life, particularly linked to popular and urban culture, such as mass advertising, movies, comic strips but also money. Pop Art aimed to break away from the elitist culture of the art world, seeking to make the work of art accessible to all by desacralising it. Andy Warhol, the movement's figurehead, redefined the artist status as ‘a job like any other’. Morevover, a starisation of the artist figure has also be witnessed.

Pop Art stirs up questions about whether artists are aiming to criticise consumer society, or rather to praise it. The public is destabilised in its instinctive desire to understand or make sense of what it sees, even if it means interpreting a hidden meaning. What sense can we make of a serigraphy of "Cambell's Soup Cans" (Andy Warhol, 1961-1962), produced using a semi-mechanical process, which presents this object to the world in an enticing way, without any context other than its existence, placing an insignificant and worthless object at the centre of attention, almost glorifying it. What can we draw from this? Should there be any conclusions to be drawn at all?

Through this duality between elusive meaning and accessible, banal subject matter, Pop Art fascinates and democratises art for a wider audience. It offers eye-catching themes, flirting with provocation and shaking up classic codes. In terms of form, Pop Art is characterised by the use of bright, cheerful colours, while the content is often impersonal. Art becomes akin to industry, perfectly reflecting the phenomenon of mass consumerism, being itself mechanicaly produced through processes such as reproduction or printing press-inspired esthetics. Breaking with the traditional singularity of art, Pop Art celebrates the power of the image.