Warhol, ever fascinated by the hypnotic power of celebrity, was drawn to the image of Mao following US President Richard Nixon's groundbreaking visit to China in 1972. His long-time dealer and supporter in Zurich, Bruno Bischofberger, had initially encouraged the artist to make a return to painting by creating portraits of the Chinese leader. Between 1972 and 1973 he made 199 Mao paintings in five different sizes across five series, plus a series of ten screenprints in editions of 250 each.

The source photograph for the Mao artworks was the official state-approved portrait that pervaded every household and bureaucratic office in China. Warhol was captivated by the image, saying "It's great. It looks like a silkscreen". For all his assumed ambivalence towards the world of politics, a shrewd political awareness runs through this entire series of artworks. By using a piece of communist propaganda - a symbol of uniformity - as the basis for a series of images that featured unique colour variations, deliberately misaligned printing layers and individualistic scribbles, Warhol savours the tension created when two opposing ideologies collide. In his hands, the Chinese statesman becomes a glamourous icon perfectly at home in the American mass-media of the 1970s.

This wallpaper was published for an exhibition of Warhol's work held at the Musée Galliera in Paris between 23rd February and 18th March 1974. In common with the iconic Cow Wallpaper that had been designed for previous shows, this design was papered across entire walls of the gallery. Five years later in 1979, Warhol signed approximately 100 sheets of this wallpaper in black felt-tip pen.

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