Roy Lichtenstein, Times Square Mural

Written By Lori Zimmer

42nd Street MTA Station

There is nothing like enjoying modern art masterpieces while running for the train below ground! The late, great, seminal Pop artist Roy Lichtenstein paid homage to the daily mind-numbing New York commute—from past to future—in this epic permanent piece in the constantly mobbed Times Square metro station.

Stretching fifty-three feet across and six feet high, Lichtenstein's classic Ben-Day dots flank images pulled from Buck Rogers comic strips, a bullet-shaped commuter spaceship hovering past swirly skyscrapers, and a throwback to the building of the subway in 1904, represented by his own Beaux-Arts rendition of the 42nd Street sign. The bold colors and graphic shapes in the mural echo the insanity of rush hour commuters below . . . minus the pushing and shoving. Lichtenstein made Times Square Mural in 1994 just a few years before his death, but the MTA didn't install the piece until 2002.

Lori Zimmer

Lori Zimmer is a New York-based author, curator and amateur historian. She is the author of six books: I Am Not Your Muse (Running Press, 2025), Art Hiding in Paris: An Illustrated Guide to the City of Light (Running Press, 2022),  Art Hiding in New York: An Illustrated Guide to the City’s Secret Masterpieces (Running Press, 2020), Logan Hicks: Still New York (Workhorse Press, 2022), The Art of Spray Paint (Rockport, 2017), and The Art of Cardboard (Rockport, 2015).  Zimmer is passionate about travel, food, and artists’ rights.

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