155 Facts About Andy Warhol

Andy Warhol's works explore the relationship between artistic expression, advertising, and celebrity culture that flourished by the 1960s, and span a variety of media, including painting, sculpture, photography, and filmmaking.

Andy Warhol expressed his queer identity through many of his works at a time when homosexuality was actively suppressed in the United States.

Andy Warhol founded Interview magazine and authored numerous books, including The Philosophy of Andy Warhol and Popism: The Warhol Sixties.

Andy Warhol died of cardiac arrhythmia, aged 58, after gallbladder surgery in February 1987.

Andy Warhol has been described as the "bellwether of the art market", with several of his works ranking among the most expensive paintings ever sold.

Andy Warhol has been the subject of numerous retrospective exhibitions, books, and documentary films.

Andy Warhol was born on August 6,1928, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

Andy Warhol's parents were working-class Rusyn emigrants from Miko, Czechoslovakia.

In 1912, Andy Warhol's father emigrated to the United States and found work in a coal mine.

Andy Warhol's wife joined him nine years later in 1921.

Andy Warhol had two older brothers, Paul and John, as well as an older sister, Maria.

At the age of eight, Andy Warhol had a streptococcal infection that led to scarlet fever.

Andy Warhol would spend these days drawing, creating scrapbooks from Hollywood magazines, and cutting out images from comic books that his mother bought him.

Andy Warhol enjoyed using the family's Kodak Baby Brownie Special camera, and after noticing his passion for photography, his father and brothers built a darkroom in the basement for him.

Andy Warhol excelled in school and won a Scholastic Art and Writing Award.

Andy Warhol served as art director of the student art magazine, Cano, illustrating a cover in 1948 and a full-page interior illustration in 1949.

Andy Warhol earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts in pictorial design in 1949.

Andy Warhol moved to New York City with $200 a week after graduating from the Carnegie Institute of Technology in June 1949.

Andy Warhol went to see Tina Fredericks, the art director of Glamour magazine, on his second day in New York.

Andy Warhol had met Fredericks on his brief visit to New York the year prior.

In 1955, Andy Warhol began designing advertisements for shoe manufacturer Israel Miller.

Andy Warhol developed his "blotted line" technique, applying ink to paper and then blotting the ink while still wet, which was akin to a printmaking process on the most rudimentary scale.

Andy Warhol somehow gave each shoe a temperament of its own, a sort of sly, Toulouse-Lautrec kind of sophistication, but the shape and the style came through accurately and the buckle was always in the right place.

In 1956, Andy Warhol was included in his first group exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art, New York.

In 1956, Andy Warhol began to sketch ornate footwear as a hobby.

Andy Warhol designed whimsical shoes that were embellished with gold leaf, and each represented a famous figure such as Truman Capote, Kate Smith, James Dean, Julie Andrews, Elvis Presley, and Zsa Zsa Gabor.

Andy Warhol habitually used the expedient of tracing photographs projected with an epidiascope.

In contrast, Andy Warhol gained recognition as a commercial artist, which caused tension with other artists.

In 1960, Andy Warhol purchased a townhouse at 1342 Lexington Avenue in the Carnegie Hill neighborhood of Manhattan, which he used as his art studio.

In 1962, Andy Warhol was taught silkscreen printmaking techniques by Max Arthur Cohn at his graphic arts business in Manhattan.

Andy Warhol is often considered to be a pioneer in silkscreen printmaking and his techniques became more elaborate throughout his career.

In May 1962, Andy Warhol was featured in an article in Time with his painting Big Campbell's Soup Can with Can Opener, which initiated his most sustained motif, the Campbell's soup can.

On July 9,1962, Andy Warhol's exhibition opened at the Ferus Gallery in Los Angeles with Campbell's Soup Cans, marking his West Coast debut of pop art.

In November 1962, Andy Warhol had an exhibition at Eleanor Ward's Stable Gallery in New York.

In December 1962, New York City's Museum of Modern Art hosted a symposium on pop art, during which artists such as Andy Warhol were attacked for "capitulating" to consumerism.

In 1963, Andy Warhol formed The Druds, a short-lived avant-garde noise band that included notable figures from the New York minimal art and proto-conceptual art scenes, including Larry Poons, La Monte Young, Walter De Maria, Jasper Johns, Claes Oldenberg, and Lucas Samaras.

Later that year, Andy Warhol relocated his studio to East 47th Street, which would turn into The Factory.

Andy Warhol had his second exhibition at the Stable Gallery in the spring of 1964, which featured sculptures of commercial boxes stacked and scattered throughout the space to resemble a warehouse.

Andy Warhol's painting of a can of a Campbell's soup cost $1,500 while each autographed can sold for three for $18, $6.50 each.

Andy Warhol used assistants to increase his productivity and these collaborations would remain a defining and controversial aspect of his working methods throughout his career.

Andy Warhol made a conscious decision to oppose conventional painting, stating that he no longer believed in painting.

In 1967, Andy Warhol established Factory Additions for his printmaking and publishing enterprise.

Andy Warhol reimbursed the four institutions where he did not appear and returned to the campuses in 1968.

Andy Warhol authored the SCUM Manifesto, a separatist feminist tract that advocated the elimination of men; and appeared in the Warhol film I, a Man.

Andy Warhol was seriously wounded by the attack and barely survived: he remained in hospital for nearly two months.

Andy Warhol had physical effects for the rest of his life, including being required to wear a surgical corset.

The Factory became more regulated, and Andy Warhol focused on making it a business enterprise.

Andy Warhol hosted a party at the Factory for Nico's album The Marble Index in September 1968.

Andy Warhol, who has always had an interest in photography, used a Polaroid camera to document his recuperation after the shooting.

Andy Warhol would become well known for always carrying his Polaroid camera to chronicle his encounters.

In 1969, Andy Warhol received an invitation to curate an exhibition using items from the permanent collection of the RISD Museum in Providence.

Andy Warhol was generally regarded as quiet, shy and a meticulous observer.

Andy Warhol's fashion evolved from what Warhol called his "leather look" to his "Brooks Brothers look," which included a Brooks Brothers shirt and tie, DeNoyer blazer, and Levi jeans.

In May 1971, Warhol's theater production, Andy Warhol's Pork, opened at the La MaMa Experimental Theatre in New York.

Andy Warhol is credited with both the cover concept and photography for The Rolling Stones' albums Sticky Fingers.

Andy Warhol received a Grammy nomination for Best Album Cover at the 14th Annual Grammy Awards in 1972.

Andy Warhol doted on Archie and took him everywhere: to the studio, parties, restaurants, and on trips to Europe.

Andy Warhol began traveling to Europe more frequently and developed a fondness for Paris.

Andy Warhol had an apartment that he shared with his business manager Fred Hughes on the Left Bank of Paris on Rue du Cherche-Midi.

In October 1972, Andy Warhol's work was included in the inaugural show at the Art Museum of South Texas in Corpus Christi, Texas.

In May 1975, Andy Warhol attended President Gerald Ford's state dinner in honor of the Shah of Iran, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, at the White House.

In September 1975, he went on an eight-city US book tour for his book The Philosophy of Andy Warhol, followed by stops in Italy, France, and England.

In January 1977, Andy Warhol traveled to Kuwait for the opening of his exhibition at the Dhaiat Abdulla Al Salem Gallery.

In June 1977, Andy Warhol was invited to a special reception honoring the "Inaugural Artists" who had contributed prints to the Jimmy Carter presidential campaign.

In 1977, Andy Warhol was commissioned by art collector Richard Weisman to create Athletes, ten portraits consisting of the leading athletes of the day.

Andy Warhol was just wasting his time, and it was really upsetting.

Andy Warhol had a re-emergence of critical and financial success in the 1980s, partially due to his affiliation and friendships with a number of prolific younger artists, who were dominating the "bull market" of 1980s New York art: Jean-Michel Basquiat, Julian Schnabel, David Salle and other so-called Neo-Expressionists, as well as members of the Transavantgarde movement in Europe, including Francesco Clemente and Enzo Cucchi.

Andy Warhol earned street credibility and graffiti artist Fab Five Freddy paid homage to him by painting an entire train with Campbell soup cans.

In 1981, Andy Warhol worked on a project with Peter Sellars and Lewis Allen that would create a traveling stage show called, A No Man Show, with a life-sized animatronic robot in the exact image of Andy Warhol.

In 1983, Andy Warhol was commissioned to create a poster for the centennial of the Brooklyn Bridge.

Andy Warhol created a series of endangered species silkscreen prints for his exhibition Andy Warhol's Animals: Species at Risk at New York City's American Museum of Natural History in April 1983.

In 1984, Vanity Fair commissioned Andy Warhol to produce a portrait of Prince, to accompany an article that celebrated the success of Purple Rain and its accompanying movie.

In January 1987, Andy Warhol traveled to Milan for the opening of his last exhibition, Last Supper, at the Palazzo delle Stelline.

The next month, Andy Warhol modeled with jazz musician Miles Davis for Koshin Satoh's fashion show at the Tunnel in New York City on February 17,1987.

Andy Warhol was initially diagnosed with a gallstone in 1973, but he adamantly rejected surgery because he feared hospitals.

Dehydrated and unable to eat, Andy Warhol was in excruciating pain by February 1987.

Andy Warhol was pronounced dead at 6:31 am from sudden cardiac arrhythmia.

Andy Warhol was dressed in a black cashmere suit, a paisley tie, and a platinum wig.

Andy Warhol was laid out holding a small prayer book and a red rose.

In December 1991, Andy Warhol's family sued the hospital in the New York Supreme Court for inadequate care, before judge Ira Gammerman, saying that the arrhythmia was caused by improper care and water intoxication.

The malpractice case was quickly settled out of court; Andy Warhol's family received an undisclosed sum of money.

Andy Warhol was an early adopter of the silkscreen printmaking process as a technique for making paintings.

Andy Warhol had several assistants through the years, including Gerard Malanga, Ronnie Cutrone, and George Condo, who produced his silkscreen multiples, following his directions to make different versions and variations.

Andy Warhol began to make paintings of iconic American objects such as dollar bills, mushroom clouds, electric chairs, cans, Coca-Cola bottles, and celebrities such as Marilyn Monroe, Elvis Presley and Elizabeth Taylor, as well as newspaper headlines.

Andy Warhol produced both comic and serious works; his subject could be a soup can or an electric chair.

In 1979, Andy Warhol was commissioned to paint a BMW M1 Group 4 racing version for the fourth installment of the BMW Art Car project.

Andy Warhol was initially asked to paint a BMW 320i in 1978, but the car model was changed and it didn't qualify for the race that year.

Andy Warhol was the first artist to paint directly onto the automobile himself instead of letting technicians transfer a scale-model design to the car.

Andy Warhol revelled in the role of "monosyllabic oddity," playing dumb to the media.

Andy Warhol would come to the Factory to urinate on canvases that had already been primed with copper-based paint by Andy or Ronnie Cutrone, a second ghost pisser much appreciated by Andy, who said that the vitamin B that Ronnie took made a prettier color when the acid in the urine turned the copper green.

Andy Warhol's 1982 portrait of Basquiat, Jean-Michel Basquiat, is a silkscreen over an oxidized copper "piss painting".

In 1983, Andy Warhol began collaborating with Basquiat and Francesco Clemente.

In 1984, Andy Warhol was commissioned by collector and gallerist Alexander Iolas to produce work based on Leonardo da Vinci's The Last Supper for an exhibition at the old refectory of the Palazzo delle Stelline in Milan, opposite from the Santa Maria delle Grazie where Leonardo da Vinci's mural can be seen.

Andy Warhol exceeded the demands of the commission and produced nearly 100 variations on the theme, mostly silkscreens and paintings, and among them a collaborative sculpture with Basquiat, the Ten Punching Bags.

Andy Warhol pioneered the blotted line technique, which combined aspects of printmaking and graphite drawing on paper, while he was working in commercial advertising.

Andy Warhol signed and numbered one edition of 250 before subsequent unauthorized unsigned versions were produced.

Since the works began as a collaboration, Andy Warhol facilitated exact duplication by providing the photo negatives and precise color codes.

In 1970, Andy Warhol's painting Campbell's Soup Can With Peeling Label sold for $60,000 at an auction by Parke-Bernet Galleries.

The value of Andy Warhol's work has been on an endless upward trajectory since his death in 1987.

Andy Warhol made 22 versions of the Elvis portraits, eleven of which are held in museums.

One Christmas, Andy Warhol left a small Head of Marilyn Monroe by the Tremaine's door at their New York apartment in gratitude for their support and encouragement.

Ethel Scull 36 Times, which is presently housed in the Metropolitan Museum of Art's collection, was Andy Warhol's first commissioned portrait.

Andy Warhol's transformation into a mere business artist was a point of criticism.

Andy Warhol attended the 1962 premiere of the static composition by La Monte Young called Trio for Strings and subsequently created his famous series of static films.

Between 1963 and 1968, Andy Warhol made more than 600 underground films, including short black-and-white "screen test" portraits of Factory visitors.

Andy Warhol's 1965 film Empire is an eight-hour view of the Empire State Building, and shortly after he released Vinyl, an adaptation of Anthony Burgess' popular dystopian novel A Clockwork Orange.

The last Andy Warhol-produced film, Bad, starred Carroll Baker and was made without either Morrissey or Dallesandro.

In 2022, the Andy Warhol Museum announced the launch of The Warhol TV, a streaming platform that allows users to watch free museum content and to rent a selection of Warhol's films from its collection.

In 1965, Andy Warhol adopted the band the Velvet Underground, making them a crucial element of the Exploding Plastic Inevitable multimedia performance art show.

Andy Warhol designed many album covers for various artists beginning during his days as an illustrator in the 1950s.

In 1984, Andy Warhol co-directed the music video "Hello Again" by the Cars, and he appeared in the video as a bartender.

In 1986, Andy Warhol co-directed the music video "Misfit" by Curiosity Killed the Cat and he made a cameo in video.

Berlin printed some of Andy Warhol's other self-published books, including Gold Book and Wild Raspberries.

Andy Warhol created the fashion magazine Interview that is still published.

Andy Warhol created covers for a number of magazines, including Time and Vogue.

Andy Warhol lived as a gay man before the gay liberation movement, but he often veiled his personal life in the press.

In 1980, Andy Warhol proclaimed that he was still a virgin.

Andy Warhol's most enduring romantic relationship was with Jed Johnson, who nursed him back to health after he was shot.

Early works that Andy Warhol submitted to a fine art gallery the 1950s, homoerotic drawings of male nudes, were rejected for being too openly gay.

Andy Warhol regularly volunteered at homeless shelters in New York City, particularly during the busier times of the year, and described himself as a religious person.

The priest thought he was afraid of being recognized; Andy Warhol said he was self-conscious about being seen in a Latin Catholic church crossing himself "in the Orthodox way".

In 1980, Andy Warhol met Pope John Paul II in St Peter's Square.

Andy Warhol made almost 100 variations on the theme of the Last Supper, which the Guggenheim felt "indicates an almost obsessive investment in the subject matter".

Andy Warhol's art is noticeably influenced by the Eastern Christian tradition which was so evident in his places of worship.

Andy Warhol's brother has described the artist as "really religious, but he didn't want people to know about that because [it was] private".

Andy Warhol was an avid collector and a "pack rat" who'd save everything.

Andy Warhol bought Americana then, too, because he loved everything he saw at Serendipity.

Andy Warhol would wear a diamond necklace under a black turtleneck, conceal his jewelry in Famous Amos cookie tins atop the canopy of his bed, and keep wads of money in his mattress.

Johnson organized his collections, and when Andy Warhol realized he needed more room, Johnson found a townhouse on East 66th Street in 1974.

Andy Warhol occupied a second-floor bedroom and basement kitchen when he died in February 1987; all other rooms, with the exception of the quarters for his Filipino servants, Nena and Aurora, were used for storage.

Andy Warhol's collections included American shop signs, Coca-Cola memorabilia, antique furniture, carousel horses, Navajo blanket rugs, 175 cookie jars, 313 watches, and 332 pieces of Fiesta Ware.

Andy Warhol enjoyed purchasing artwork and he had a collection of 19th century sculptures by Antoine-Louis Barye, Antonio Canova, Jean-Baptiste Carpeaux, and Jean-Leon Gerome.

Andy Warhol had work by Marcel Duchamp, Joseph Whiting Stock, Cy Twombly.

Andy Warhol collected many books, with more than 1,200 titles in his collection.

In 1992, Andy Warhol's estate donated 15-acres of land on his former property Eothen to The Nature Conservancy.

Now called The Andy Warhol Preserve, it is part of a 2,400-acre protected area in Montauk.

Andy Warhol had so many possessions that it took Sotheby's 10 days to auction his estate after his death; the auction grossed $25.3 million.

The foundation serves as the estate of Andy Warhol, but has a mission "to foster innovative artistic expression and the creative process" and is "focused primarily on supporting work of a challenging and often experimental nature".

All digital images of Andy Warhol are exclusively managed by Corbis, while all transparency images of Andy Warhol are managed by Art Resource.

The Andy Warhol Foundation released its 20th Anniversary Annual Report as a three-volume set in 2007: Vol.

Andy Warhol founded Interview, a stage for celebrities he "endorsed" and a business staffed by his friends.

Andy Warhol endorsed products, appeared in commercials, and made frequent celebrity guest appearances on television shows and films.

Andy Warhol appeared in the films Dynamite Chicken, The Driver's Seat, Cocaine Cowboys and Tootsie.

Andy Warhol is one of main characters of the 2012 British television show Noel Fielding's Luxury Comedy.

In September 2016, it was announced that Jared Leto would portray the title character in Andy Warhol, an upcoming American biographical drama film produced by Michael De Luca and written by Terence Winter, based on the book Andy Warhol: The Biography by Victor Bockris.

The odd commercial worked and Andy Warhol was featured in another commercial entering a Braniff jet and being greeted by a Braniff hostess, while espousing their like for flying Braniff.

Andy Warhol filmed a segment for the sketch comedy television show Saturday Night Live, which aired in October 1981.

Andy Warhol had a guest appearance on the 200th episode of the television series The Love Boat wherein a Midwestern wife fears Andy Warhol will reveal to her husband her secret past as a Warhol superstar named Marina del Rey.

In 1986, Andy Warhol appeared in an ad for the Drexel Burnham Lambert investment group.

Andy Warhol appeared as a recurring character in TV series Vinyl, played by John Cameron Mitchell.

Andy Warhol was portrayed by Evan Peters in the American Horror Story: Cult episode "Valerie Solanas Died for Your Sins: Scumbag".

Andy Warhol is featured as a character in the Miracleman series of comics.

Nick Bertozzi's book Becoming Andy Warhol, which was illustrated by Pierce Hargan, was released by Abrams ComicArts in 2016.

Andy Warhol makes an appearance in the 2003 video game The Sims: Superstar as the photographer in Studio Town.

Andy Warhol makes a cameo appearance in the 2022 video game Immortality.