One of the world's most acclaimed Pop Artist, Roy Lichtenstein, focused on the relationship between "high" visual culture and the popular "low" culture of the masses. Much influenced by the work of the European avant-garde, Lichtenstein was nonetheless drawn to images of Americana and cartoons evident in his first non-expressionistic work ‘Look Mickey’ (1961), based on pictures found in one of his children's books and containing his first dialogue balloon. At this time, Lichtenstein also developed his signature technique of reproducing Ben-Day dots. Lichtenstein used the graphic methods of cartoons and comic strips, transposing them to painting in playfully ironic images.
Lichtenstein created numerous works with close-up pictures of young American beauties drawn from cartoons during the 1960s, exaggerating his technique to explore the clichés of comic strips. ‘The Melody Haunts My Reverie’ (1965), forms part of a series of women inspired by DC Comics’ ‘Girls' Romances’ and ‘Secret Hearts,’ in contrast to his earlier paintings based on All-American Men of War comics like ‘Blam,’ ‘Takka Takka,’ and ‘Live Ammo.’