Andy Warhol (August 6, 1928 – February 22, 1987) was an American artist who was a leading figure in the visual art movement known as pop art. His works explore the relationship between artistic expression, celebrity culture and advertisement that flourished by the 1960s. After a successful career as a commercial illustrator, Warhol became a renowned and sometimes controversial artist. The Andy Warhol Museum in his native city,Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, holds an extensive permanent collection of art and archives. It is the largest museum in the United States dedicated to a single artist.
Warhol's art encompassed many forms of media, including hand drawing, painting, printmaking, photography, silk screening, sculpture, film, and music. He was also a pioneer in computer-generated art using Amiga computers that were introduced in 1984, two years before his death. He foundedInterview Magazine and was the author of 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. His studio, The Factory, was a famous gathering place that brought together distinguished intellectuals, drag queens, playwrights, Bohemian street people, Hollywood celebrities, and wealthy patrons.
Warhol has been the subject of numerous retrospective exhibitions, books, and feature and documentary films. He coined the widely used expression "15 minutes of fame". Many of his creations are very collectible and highly valuable. The highest price ever paid for a Warhol painting is US$100 million for a 1963 canvas titled Eight Elvises. The private transaction was reported in a 2009 article in The Economist, which described Warhol as the "bellwether of the art market".Warhol's works include some of the most expensive paintings ever sold.
Here are some interesting facts about Andy Warhol:
ReplyDeleteWarhol created a silkscreen painting of Elvis Presley in 1963 titled ‘Eight Elvises’. The painting was sold for US$100 million making it the one of the most expensive paintings ever sold. The price paid for ‘Eight Elvises’ is the maximum for a Warhol painting.
Andy Warhol was afraid of hospitals and he had a premonition that he would die in one. On February 22, 1987 in a New York hospital, Andy Warhol died in his sleep due to a sudden post-operative heart attack. He was making good recovery from a routine gallbladder surgery. His family sued the hospital for inadequate care and said the staff overloaded him with fluids. The suit was settled in 1991 for an undisclosed amount. Warhol had stated in his will that his entire estate, except a few legacies to family members, would go to create a foundation dedicated to the “advancement of the visual arts”.
The Andy Warhol Museum in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania is the largest museum in the United States of America which is dedicated to a single artist.