Gauntlet Gallery
What is Shepard Fairey’s piece called “These Sunsets Are To Die For (Offset Lithograph)”?
Artist Statement
"These Sunsets Are To Die For" depicts a beautiful but ominous sunset, disturbingly amplified by pollution. The image is inspired by the dramatic pollution-fueled sunsets I witnessed in Providence, Rhode Island. The scene in the original painting the print is based on is from a photo I took in Brooklyn looking across the river to Manhattan where the factory smoke merged with the clouds at sundown. The image was part of my mural in Munich, Germany thanks to Positive-Propaganda. –Shepard PRINT DETAILS: These Sunsets Are to Die For! 24 x 36 inches. Offset on 80# cream Speckletone paper. Signed by Shepard Fairey. $35.
Summary
These Sunsets Are To Die For is a 2025 offset lithograph by Shepard Fairey, published by Obey Giant. Measuring 24 x 36 inches on 80# cream Speckletone paper, it is signed by Fairey and was issued at $35. The image depicts a beautiful but ominous sunset whose drama is amplified by pollution. Fairey says it was inspired by pollution-fueled sunsets he witnessed in Providence, Rhode Island, with the underlying painting based on a photo he took in Brooklyn looking across the river to Manhattan, where factory smoke merged with clouds at sundown. The source notes the image was part of his mural in Munich, Germany, realized with Positive-Propaganda.
Why It Matters
This large-format lithograph turns a conventionally beautiful subject, a glowing sunset, into an environmental warning, capturing how pollution can heighten a scene's drama while signaling harm. Fairey's account grounds the image in specific observation: skies he saw in Providence, Rhode Island, and a photo taken in Brooklyn of factory smoke merging with clouds over Manhattan. That documentary origin gives the work credibility as climate commentary rather than abstract symbolism. Its connection to his Munich mural, produced with Positive-Propaganda, links the print to his international public-art practice and shows how a single image migrates from photograph to painting to mural to editioned print. As an offset lithograph at a 24 x 36 inch scale and a $35 price point, it functions as an accessible entry into Fairey's environmental work, making the climate message available to a broad audience. For collectors, it documents how Fairey embeds urgent ecological concerns inside visually seductive imagery, a strategy that defines much of his recent output and rewards close reading of the apparent beauty against its polluted source.
Collector Perspective
This piece appeals to collectors drawn to Fairey's environmental work and to those who want a large, affordable statement print. As an offset lithograph at 24 x 36 inches, it offers significant wall presence at a modest $35 price, making it a strong entry point for newer collectors or a complementary piece in an established environmental grouping. Its documented connection to the Munich mural with Positive-Propaganda adds provenance interest for those who follow Fairey's public-art projects. The signed-but-open nature of the offset format means it reads as accessible rather than scarce, suiting buyers who prioritize image and message over edition exclusivity, and it pairs naturally with his other climate-themed releases.
Historical Context
These Sunsets Are To Die For sits within Fairey's sustained environmental output of the 2020s, where he repeatedly frames climate concern through arresting imagery. The source ties the work to his international mural practice, noting the image appeared in a Munich, Germany mural produced with Positive-Propaganda, an organization that supports socially engaged public art. The progression Fairey describes, from a Brooklyn photograph of factory smoke over Manhattan, to a painting, to the mural, to this offset lithograph, illustrates his typical workflow of moving an image across media and scales. Issued as a large-format offset by Obey Giant in 2025, it represents the more accessible, broadly distributed end of his catalog, extending his ecological messaging beyond limited screen-print editions to a wider audience.
FAQ
What inspired this image?
Fairey says it was inspired by dramatic pollution-fueled sunsets he witnessed in Providence, Rhode Island. The original painting the print is based on came from a photo he took in Brooklyn looking across the river to Manhattan, where factory smoke merged with the clouds at sundown.
Is this a screen print or a lithograph?
It is an offset lithograph, printed on 80# cream Speckletone paper. The source lists its editions as First Edition, Large Format, and Offset Lithograph, and notes it measures 24 x 36 inches and is signed by Shepard Fairey, issued at $35.
Was this image used anywhere else?
Yes. According to the source, the image was part of Fairey's mural in Munich, Germany, realized thanks to Positive-Propaganda, showing how the same artwork appeared as a large public mural before this print release.
What is the environmental message?
The work depicts a beautiful but ominous sunset that Fairey says is disturbingly amplified by pollution. By tracing the imagery to factory smoke over the city, the print frames industrial pollution as the source of the scene's heightened, troubling drama.
Related Works
About the Artist
Shepard Fairey (b. 1970, Charleston, South Carolina) is an American street artist, graphic designer, and activist, and a graduate of the Rhode Island School of Design. His 1989 “André the Giant Has a Posse” sticker grew into the global OBEY GIANT campaign — an ongoing experiment in propaganda, obedience, and visual culture. He reached worldwide recognition with the 2008 “Hope” portrait of Barack Obama, now held by the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery. Across screen prints, stencils, murals, and collage, Fairey channels propaganda aesthetics toward themes of peace, justice, environmentalism, and civil rights. His work is in the collections of the Museum of Modern Art, the Victoria & Albert Museum, and LACMA.