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Roy Lichtenstein's pop art images burst onto the New York art scene in 1961, and he is now having his first major retrospective for 35 years at London's Hayward Gallery.

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Lichtenstein specialised in taking images from advertisements and comic books like 'Heart Throb' and transferring the images to canvas, cropping and simplifying the forms.

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His most distinctive element was the inclusion of the "Benday dots" that were used to reproduce colour in mechanical printing processes.

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Roy Lichtenstein used humour to comment on the role of art and his rigorous copying and reworking of ordinary objects.

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His use of bright colours and flat surfaces led to a distinctive style, but he always said he was interested purely in the form and not the content of his paintings.

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Lichtenstein used irony to comment on the fame that suddenly overtook those who were adopted by New York art dealers soon after the launch of the pop art movement.

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Lichtenstein's work became increasingly abstract and surrealist in later years, with the influences of Picasso and Dali evident in his Girl with a Tear.

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The humour in his paintings is partly derived from earlier, Dadaist experiments with found objects, and also from his involvement in the 'happenings' of the 1960s

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His interest in graphics led him to use the simple outlines, for example in this advertisement for bathroom fittings.

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Roy Lichtensein was successful because he challenged our very notion of art, forcing us to re-engage with images and their meanings. BBC Four will screen the documentary Lichtenstein: Pop Idol on 1 March at 2340 GMT.