Andy Warhol
Biography of Pop-Art Artist, Printmaker, Video Artist Noted For Iconic Popular Art.
Visual Arts Guide

Andy Warhol (1928-1987)

A founder of the Pop Art Movement and one of the most famous artists of the 1960s, Andy Warhol was a painter, printmaker and filmmaker who brought 'popular' everyday culture into museums. Eschewing fine art painting, he turned to modern methods - such as screenprinting - to create a series of iconic images and pop-art portraits. He turned stars into art and turned himself, the artist, into a star. Obsessed with becoming famous since a child, he said:

'I wanted to be art businessman or a business artist. Being good in business is the most fascinating kind of art'.

Some of his most memorable images include Campbells Soup Can; Green Disaster Ten Times, 1963 (Museum fur Moderne Kunst, Frankfurt); Suicide, 1963 (Leo Castelli Gallery, New York) and Jacqueline Kennedy No.3, 1965 (Hayward Gallery, London).

He was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, his parents being Austro-Hungarian immigrants. His father worked in the coal mines, and he received a Catholic upbringing. A sickly child, he was not popular at school and as a result bonded with his mother, spending long periods in bed, drawing pictures and collecting photos of movie stars. He loved Hollywood - in later years he was to say:

'I love Los Angeles. I love Hollywood. They're so beautiful. Everything's plastic, but I love plastic. I want to be plastic.'

He studied commercial art at the Carnegie Mellon University and after qualifying went onto a successful career in magazine illustration and advertising. But then, in a gallery he came across comic-strip pictures by the artist Roy Lichtenstein, which were similar to his own efforts. This made him determined to become famous too - but he urgently needed a new idea of his own. A friend advised him to paint what he most loved, so he did. He began to paint money, or rather he printed money - screen printing green dollar notes.

Then, during the 1960s, he began to create images of famous household American products, such as Campbells soup and cans of Coca-Cola, and stars such as Marilyn Monroe and Elizabeth Taylor. He deliberately exploited the values of the world by using its visual language: bright colours, silkscreen technique, repetition and commercial simplification. He set up a new role model for artists, no longer the solitary genius, but the artist as a businessman - the equal of Hollywood stars and directors. Young artists today aspire to this role, and one of the most successful is the British conceptual artist and sculptor Damien Hirst.

An important milestone in Warhol's art career was the 1964 Pop Artist Exhibition, The American Supermarket. The show was set up to look like a typical small supermarket, and everything had a price tag and was for sale. Warhol painting of a can of Campbell's soup sold for $1,500, while there were dozens of signed cans of Campbells soup selling for $6 a piece. The exhibit was the first mass event which presented the public with both Pop Art, and the age-old question of what is art? Much of Warhol's work was the result of collaboration between himself and others, manufactured in his studio known as The Factory. His dream was to produce 4000 works of art a day. What he actually managed was 2000 in two years. Warhol cultivated an image that constantly kept him in the news. The Factory was the venue for wild parties that were attended by important politicians, writers and actors. He had his nose altered by surgery and took to wearing a white wig and makeup. If he did not feel like going to an event, he sent a lookalike, like a double standing for a film star.

Marilyn (1967) Screenprint.

For a list of the highest prices paid
for works of art by famous painters:
Top 10 Most Expensive Paintings and
Top 20 Most Expensive Paintings.

For details of auction records set
by artists in Ireland, see:
Most Expensive Irish Paintings.

Surrounded by drug addicts, Warhol was shot by one of his 'rejected' entourage in 1968. He barely survived and went on to struggle with the injuries for the rest of his life. His would-be assassin was arrested the next day and by way of explanation said 'He had too much control over my life'. After this, the Factory scene became much more tightly controlled and this bought the wild 1960s to an end. The 1970s would be a much quieter decade and Warhol focused more on earning money. He spent time creating portraits for rich patrons including Diana Ross, Brigitte Bardot and Michael Jackson. Although his work was criticized for some as being superficial and commercial, others insist this is the genius of his idea - that it perfectly reflects contemporary American culture. Although derided by art critics as well as other American artists like Mark Rothko, Warhol remains one of the seminal figures in the history of art of the 20th century.

He died in 1987 of a sudden heart attack after routine gallbladder surgery. He estate was auctioned after his death and grossed more than $20 million.

• For information about contemporary artists in Ireland, see: Irish Art.
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