Robert Rauschenberg's Silkscreen Paintings, created between 1962 and 1964, represent a seminal period in the artist's career, marking his innovative exploration of the interplay between pop culture imagery and fine art. Inspired by a visit to Andy Warhol's studio and witnessing Warhol's own use of the silkscreen process, Rauschenberg embarked on creating his own silkscreen paintings. He sourced images from a wide array of materials, including National Geographic, Life, Esquire magazines, and newspapers, as well as his own photographs​ (Rauschenberg Foundation)​.

The process Rauschenberg used involved sending photographic images to Aetna Silk Screen Products in New York, specifying dimensions and the number of screens required. Over the course of creating these paintings, Rauschenberg made approximately fifty screens, which he reused across various artworks. This period also saw a transition in Rauschenberg's color palette from predominantly black-and-white to more vibrant colors, adding a dynamic visual layer to his works. Notably, the silkscreen paintings weren't conceived as a series but stand as individual explorations of the medium and its possibilities​ (Rauschenberg Foundation)​.

One of the notable works from this period is "Retroactive I" (1963), which features an image of John F. Kennedy during the second televised presidential debate. The work encapsulates Rauschenberg's admiration for Kennedy and reflects the profound impact of the President's assassination on the artist. Rauschenberg's application of the silkscreen technique allowed him to transcribe both his own photographs and images from the popular press onto a larger scale, distinguishing these works from the one-to-one ratio of his earlier transfer drawings​ (Rauschenberg Foundation)​.

Rauschenberg's silkscreen paintings are a testament to his ability to bridge the gap between the handcrafted and the mechanically reproduced, between personal expression and the collective imagery of American culture. This body of work also underscores his role in the evolution of Pop Art, blending commercial means of reproduction with the subject matter of contemporary life and news media to create complex, layered compositions​ (Rauschenberg Foundation)​.

Through these silkscreen paintings, Rauschenberg not only expanded his artistic repertoire but also contributed to the dialogue around the use of mass-media images in fine art, a conversation that continues to resonate in the art world today.