On the Balcony (1957) by Peter Blake.

Peter Blake is a well-known British pop painter who became especially famous for illustrating the cover of the album “Sgt. Pepper” by The Beatles.

In this oil, Peter Blake skillfully imitates the technique of collage, with some objects in 2D and others in 3D, which simulate being stuck, instead of painted.

The figure of the boy on the right is a self-portrait. The photograph he holds in front of his chest, which bears the inscription “In sincere memory”, is a posthumous tribute to one of his art professors, the painter John Minton, who died in 1957.

In this work, Peter Blake makes 27 references to the theme of the title, as for example, the central image of the British Royal Family waving from the balcony, or the painting “The balcony” of Monet that holds the boy on the left.

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