From the elements of mass pictorial communication employed by newspaper ads, comics and art-history tomes text bubbles, flat colors, outlined figures, Benday dots he could make pictures of pictures that were both illustrative and abstract.

WSJ: Roy Lichtenstein | Cartoon Hero | By Richard B. Woodward

In 1930, he found his mentor, Arshile Gorky, whose harrowing agon with the art of Picasso broached a new mode of pictorial space.

NEWYORKER: Shifting Picture

Professional art historians were not impressed, declaring the works exhibited "completely lacking in pictorial interest", and particularly disparaging the Cezannes as "making one wonder how this painter's reputation has been achieved".

BBC: A Point of View: The art of collecting