Mick Jagger FS.II 147 is one of ten iconic prints from Andy Warhol’s Mick Jagger portfolio, created in 1975. In this series, Warhol turns his lens on the legendary frontman of The Rolling Stones, capturing Jagger in a range of expressive poses that reveal different facets of his persona—from the seductive and charismatic to the introspective and enigmatic.

As with Warhol’s Marilyn and Mao series, the Mick Jagger prints embrace repetition, yet each composition offers a unique psychological depth. In Mick Jagger 147, the musician’s gaze is direct, almost confrontational, as he rests his face on his interlaced fingers. There is a quiet intensity in this pose—stripped of performance and bravado—revealing a more contemplative side of the rock icon. Warhol employs bold, simplified color overlays, using stark black and white as a foundation and punctuating it with an orange hue across one side of Jagger’s face, emphasizing his unmistakable features.

Warhol’s fascination with fame, glamour, and celebrity identity lies at the heart of this work. As a chronicler of pop culture, Warhol was drawn to those who symbolized the shifting ideals of beauty, power, and charisma. Just as he immortalized Marilyn Monroe, Liz Taylor, and Grace Kelly, Warhol used Jagger’s image to explore the performative nature of modern celebrity.

The friendship between Andy Warhol and Mick Jagger began in 1964 at a party during the Stones’ first U.S. tour. At the time, Warhol was rising rapidly within New York’s avant-garde art scene. Their relationship deepened throughout the decade, with Jagger becoming a fixture at Warhol’s Factory. By the early 1970s, they had developed both a personal and professional connection. In 1971, they collaborated on the now-iconic album cover for Sticky Fingers, designed by Warhol and featuring a provocative image of a man’s jeans-clad crotch—complete with a working zipper. The cover is widely regarded as one of the most memorable in music history.

Warhol held Jagger in high regard, once listing his virtues with characteristic bluntness and admiration:
1 – He’s very talented; 2 – He’s very intelligent; 3 – He’s very handsome; 4 – He’s very adorable; 5 – He’s a great business person; 6 – He’s a great movie star; 7 – I like his fake cockney accent… Image is so important to rock stars. Mick Jagger is the rock star with the longest running image.

In the summer of 1975, the Jaggers rented Warhol’s Montauk estate, where Warhol photographed Mick in a series of candid, stylized Polaroids. These images would become the basis for the Mick Jagger screenprints, including 147. The portraits exude raw energy while distilling Jagger’s aura into a fine-tuned balance of glamour and vulnerability.

Jagger, in turn, admired Warhol’s ability to reflect society back at itself. After Warhol’s death, he remarked:

The thing that he seemed to be able to do was to capture society, whatever part of it he wanted to portray, pretty accurately… If you want to be reminded of a certain period, you can look at what Andy was doing then. He was very much in tune with what was going on.

Warhol’s Mick Jagger 147 is more than a celebrity portrait—it is a convergence of two cultural titans, each shaping the landscape of their time. The work exemplifies Warhol’s mastery of screenprinting, his eye for expressive nuance, and his deep engagement with the spectacle of fame. Both as a document of friendship and an artwork of enduring impact, Mick Jagger 147 remains a cornerstone of Warhol’s exploration into the mythologies of modern identity.