Andy Warhol (1928-1987)

Artist, designer, filmmaker, music producer, commercial illustrator, author and magazine publisher, Andy Warhol was a founder and major exponent of the Pop Art movement, as well as one of the most prolific, talented and influential artists of the 20th century. He used many different media from serigraphy to cable TV, and pioneered the development of photo-mechanical silkscreen, where an enlarged photographic image is transferred to a canvas and inked from behind, thus creating mass-media images.

Warhol was perhaps best known for his paintings of commercial subjects, such as the Campbell’s Soup can series, and for his portraits of celebrities, especially Marilyn Monroe. In fact, it was Warhol who said, "In the future, everyone will be famous for fifteen minutes," and perhaps more than anyone, he himself was famous for being famous. His body of work also includes minimalist installations, work with the velvet underground rock band and the founding of the style magazine Interview. Born Andy Warhola in Pittsburgh in 1928 to Czechoslovakian immigrant parents, Warhol demonstrated an early talent for drawing and design. After graduating from the Carnegie Institute of technology in 1949, he moved to New York city where he changed his name and quickly established himself as the most sought-after commercial artist in New York.

His first one-man show in 1952 was followed by a long succession of prestigious solo shows and exhibitions in major galleries and museums throughout the world until his untimely death after a gallbladder operation in 1987. After his death, and according to his wishes, The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts was created in New York to support young artists.