Andy Warhol, born Andrew Warhola on August 6, 1928, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, was a seminal figure in the Pop Art movement and one of the most influential artists of the 20th century. Renowned for his works that explored the intersection of artistic expression, celebrity culture, and advertising, Warhol's creations often featured iconic American objects and figures, such as Campbell's soup cans, Coca-Cola bottles, and Marilyn Monroe. His distinctive use of mass production techniques, like screen printing, challenged traditional notions of art and originality. Warhol's studio, The Factory, became a famous gathering place for intellectuals, drag queens, playwrights, Hollywood celebrities, and wealthy patrons. Beyond painting, he made significant contributions to film, music, and literature, cementing his status as a cultural icon. Warhol's legacy continues to influence contemporary art and culture, reflecting his belief that "in the future, everyone will be world-famous for 15 minutes."
Biography
Andy Warhol (born August 6, 1928 – February 22, 1987) was an American artist, director and producer who played a leading role in the visual arts movement known as Pop Art. His work explores the relationship between artistic expression, celebrity culture and advertising, which flourished in the 1960s, and encompasses a variety of media including painting, screen printing, photography, film and sculpture. Among his best-known works are the silkscreen paintings Campbell’s Soup Cans (1962) and Marilyn Diptych (1962), the experimental film Chelsea Girls (1966), and the multimedia events known as Exploding Plastic Inevitable (1966-67).
Born and raised in Pittsburgh, Warhol initially pursued a successful career as an illustrator. After being exhibited in various galleries in the late 1950s, he began to be recognized as an influential and controversial artist. His New York studio, The Factory, became a well-known meeting place that brought together respected intellectuals, drag queens, playwrights, bohemian street people, Hollywood celebrities and wealthy patrons. It fostered a collection of personalities known as Warhol superstars and coined the much-used phrase “15 minutes of fame”. In the late 1960s, he led and produced the experimental rock band The Velvet Underground and founded Interview magazine. He has written numerous books, including The Philosophy of Andy Warhol and Popism: The Warhol Sixties. He is also notable as a gay man who lived openly as such before the gay liberation movement. Following gall bladder surgery in 1987, Warhol died in February of that year at the age of 58.
Warhol has been the subject of numerous retrospective exhibitions, books, feature films and documentaries. The Andy Warhol Museum in his native Pittsburgh, which has an extensive permanent collection of art and archives, is the largest museum in the United States dedicated to a single artist. Many of his creations are highly collectible and very valuable. The highest price ever paid for a Warhol painting is $105 million for a 1963 canvas titled Silver Car Crash (Double Disaster); his works include some of the most expensive paintings ever sold. A 2009 article in The Economist described Warhol as a “leading figure of the art market”
