The top works in the Stedelijk’s permanent collection have been away and out of sight for some time now. Visibly Absent is organised by the Stedelijk Museum in collaboration with the Rietveld Academy and the Sandberg Institute to explore ways in which a collection can be out of sight and yet a visible and occasionally surprisingly tangible presence in the city.
This work is exposed in the form of posters in the streets of Amsterdam during the week of 13-19 May 2009, and in the form of light boxes at the Centraal Station Amsterdam from May 2009, until September 2009
“As I opened Fire” triptych by Roy Lichtenstein is one of the icons of the collection of Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam.
Lichtenstein based his work in cartoons and images from comics.. The three images of “As I opened fire” are inspired by the story in the American comic book “All American Men of War.” 
The work of Lichtenstein is a graphical representation of comic book strips. He reinforces the primary colors, black outlines and enlarges the grid dots, as seen in newspapers and other printed matter. The work is an example of Pop Art. Lichtenstein used images from popular culture and inspired other American Pop Art artists.
The answer for the tricky ‘Which one is Lichtenstein?’ question appearing on the posters and on the light boxes would be: “None of the shown images is Lichtenstein’s work, the poster is a combination of various vintage comic book strips.”
Photo Credit: Marcus Koppen
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