Warhol artist paintings with titles. Andy Warhole. Photos from different years. Green Coca-Cola bottles

One of the founders of pop art, Warhol Andy managed to successfully turn his name into a brand. A multifaceted and versatile personality, he reliably inserted himself into the history of cultural development of the second half of the 20th century. What brought him such resounding success?

Childhood

On August 6, 1928, a fourth child was born into the Warhol family of immigrants from Czechoslovakia, and they named him Andrei. Warhol Andy is the creative pseudonym of Andrei Warhola. At the time of his birth, the family had already lived in the city of Pittsburgh for several years, so he rightfully took an American name for himself. The family had nothing to do with the creative environment. His father worked in a coal mine all his life, and his mother kept house.

In the 3rd grade, little Andrei fell ill with Sydenham's chorea. This disease causes involuntary sudden body movements. As a result, the boy had to spend a whole year at home. It was during this period that he became interested in drawing in order to somehow distract himself from his painful state. There was no need to hiccup the plot for a long time, he simply drew what was in front of his eyes: light bulbs, empty cigarette packs. It was then that he first began making collages from newspaper clippings.

The beginning of the way

The young and ambitious Andy Warhol decided to begin his creative path by entering the Carnegie Mellon Institute of Technology. He passed all the exams without difficulty and began studying commercial illustration and graphic drawing. He turned out to be the best student on the course, but at the same time he could not find contact with teachers and classmates.

The young and talented American artist easily found work in New York. His first position was as a window decorator. During these years, he painted posters, greeting cards, and decorated stands. There wasn't much success at first.

One friend advised him: if you want to be rich, draw money. Andy took this advice literally and began drawing one-dollar bills. At the same time, work with discount coupons and the now legendary images of Campbell's soup were completed. This was the first success. He was quickly noticed and offered cooperation with leading glossy publications. Andy Warhol worked as an illustrator for Vogue and Harper's Bazaar magazines.

Stairs up

One of the most successful people of his time, Andy Warhol, whose biography and work still inspires today, began his career in advertising. The first successful project was an advertisement for shoes “I. Miller." It was a real success, contracts fell like rain, and the amount of fees was constantly growing.

Already in 1952 his first exhibition took place. It brought its author even greater success. Andy was accepted into the Art Editors Club. During the same period, he created his signature style based on screen printing. By this time, his earnings already exceeded $100,000 a year, and he was recognized as one of the most successful people of our time. One of the most expensive orders is the design of a Coca-Cola can.

Templates, templates, templates...

1962 became a landmark year. At this time, the artist’s passion for stencils intensified. He took newspaper clippings or photographs as a basis, and the original version was multiplied into many copies. Each of the blanks was painted differently. The American artist was far from realist. The selection of colors was based on their compatibility.

At one time, the artist was greatly fascinated by tragic photographs. He took subjects of murders, disasters, fires. Numerous repetitions enhanced the impressions, and unnatural colors only helped to focus attention on the plot.

Andy Warhol continues to work in this technique further. Photos of Marilyn Monroe have inspired the artist for a long time. Marilyn in neon colors has become a kind of pop art icon.

Factory

Andy Warhol brought the philosophy of technology to art. He said more than once that he would like to become a machine. Thinking the same and looking the same, like machines - this is what humanity must come to. Based on this idea, a creative workshop was created, which he called “Factory”. To create the necessary ambiance, the entire room was covered with aluminum.

Warhol’s “factory” began to gather like-minded people around itself. The work team was replenished with several assistants. Although the general direction was uniform, the assistants had some freedom. They independently selected images for new stencils and learned color combinations from the master.

Director

The same “Factory” became the place where cinema was born. Andy became almost the only famous underground film director. His first works put the viewer into a hypnotic state. These are the paintings “Dream” and “Empire”. In the first, throughout the entire film there is simply a sleeping person, the second offers contemplation of the Empire State Building at night. The film lasts for several hours, without any musical accompaniment.

Later, films appeared with a plot that was mostly erotic in nature. One of the first feature films is “Garbage”. The very process of work and the plot of the film is a parody and mockery of commercial cinema.

In 1966, Warhol began working with the Velvet Underground. He makes films and produces several albums. Andy personally designs their first album. The cover features a graphic image of a banana on a blank background. Now this is one of the artist’s most recognizable works.

Magazine

This man is not only an artist, director and producer of a musical group, he is also a magazine publisher. Andy Warhol created Interview magazine. The main goal of the publication is to bring modern culture to the masses.

The pages of the magazine published interviews with prominent creative personalities of their time: musicians, artists, actors, directors. He was one of the first to lift the veil of secrecy over the lives of famous personalities. Fame, shocking sex and delicacy coexist perfectly here. But the range of people is not limited to pop art and the underground; the publication does not adhere to a specific style and works in all directions.

The magazine is still alive and is published in several countries. He came to Russia in 2011. The new generation diligently observes the traditions laid down by the founder.

Assassination attempt

On July 3, 1968, Warhol was working in his studio as always. One of his actresses walked in and fired three shots into the artist's stomach. Then she calmly went out into the street and confessed to the first patrolman what she had done. However, she did not feel remorse, and made the attempt quite deliberately. Andy suffered clinical death, but as a result of a long and complex operation, doctors managed to save his life. He flatly refused to give incriminating evidence, complacently forgiving his model. Solanas escaped with three years in prison and forced treatment.

Some believe that Valerie was an ardent feminist. But she herself claims that she tried to attract his attention to herself in this way. Talking to him was like talking to furniture, she said. The version with the unhappy lover seems more plausible, all things considered.

Having been on the threshold of the worlds, the artist becomes more devout and begins to regularly attend church. The theme of violent death is often visible in the works of this time.

Personal life

Andy Warhol, whose biography was carefully hidden, still failed to completely free himself from public discussion of his personal life.

He was constantly credited with having a relationship with Edie Sedgwick. He met this sweet girl with a charming smile in 1995. The thin, fragile 17-year-old girl delighted the already famous artist. He called her his muse more than once.

It is still not clear whether they had romantic feelings or not, but one thing is a fact. They appeared together everywhere, as if twins dressed alike. To please Andy, the girl even cut her luxurious hair and dyed it platinum blonde. But the idyll did not last forever; for unknown reasons, they quarreled right in the restaurant, and were never seen together again.

Many researchers of Andy Warhol's personal life claim that he was gay, and a relationship with Eddie simply could not have happened. You can learn a lot about life and work from the diaries kept by Andy Warhol: biography, photos, parties and creative process. The recordings were kept for 10 years, and after the artist’s death they were published.

Artist, director, producer, publisher - Andy Warhol marked himself in almost all directions and left a bright neon stroke in the history of modern art. His works continue to inspire the younger generation and he raised many followers on his own at the “Factory” of art. An unusual personality with an unusual destiny, a shining example of a person who independently achieved everything he dreamed of.

Today marks the 86th anniversary of the birth of Andy Warhol, the famous American artist, designer, sculptor, producer, director, writer, magazine publisher, founder of the “homouniversale” ideology and author of works that have already become synonymous with the concept of commercial pop art. Andy Warhol made art accessible to the masses so that people learned to see the beauty of everyday things and understand that everything that surrounds them is beautiful in its essence. On the occasion of the birthday of the genius provocateur, we remembered 10 of his most famous works.

1. Marilyn diptych

Marilyn diptych, 1962

The canvas was painted immediately after the death of Marilyn Monroe. Andy Warhol combined two paintings: fifty roughly colored, replicated portraits of the actress and exactly the same, but in black and white. On the second canvas, most of the portraits are poorly visible or blurred. Thus, the artist managed to show the image of death that haunted Marilyn and emphasize the contrast with her life. Now the painting is in London, in the Tate Gallery.

2. A can of Campbell's soup

Campbell Soup Can, 1962

This painting, according to the artist, was his best work. It all started with one picture, then a whole series was born. It expresses Warhol's desire to reveal the superficial essence of things and enable everyone to understand that an iron or a vacuum cleaner is as beautiful as green hills or a meadow with flowers. Warhol explained his passion for painting the everyday very simply: “I work with what I like.” And he really loved Campbell soups; he ate them straight from the can. This painting was sold for $24 million after Warhol's death. The author himself at one time, without suspecting anything, sold similar ones for 100 bucks.

3. Pistol

Pistol, 1981-1982

On June 3, 1968, Andy Warhol survived an attempt on his life - he received three bullet wounds in the stomach. A close encounter with death inspired the pop art innovator to create several paintings, including the famous “Pistol” - a copy of the revolver with which he was almost shot. On a red background there is a stenciled image of a revolver in black and white color schemes. Today this work is estimated at 6-7 million dollars.

4. Banana

Banana, 1967

Warhol was a producer for the Velvet Underground. His main contribution was the creation of the cover of the debut album of The Velvet Underground and Nico. It was on it that the famous bright yellow banana, the artist’s signature and the inscription “Peel slowly and see” were first depicted. And the first editions of the album were equipped with a yellow banana glued to the envelopes, tearing it off revealed another fruit - this time pink and peeled.

5. 200 one dollar bills

200 one dollar bills, 1962

Warhol said: “I asked several of my friends to suggest themes for my work. Finally, one friend asked the right question: “Listen, what do you love most?” That’s how I started drawing money!” Andy Warhol, as a promoter of everything that has a mass character, could not ignore such a familiar thing for Americans as a one-dollar bill. It was in this picture that he maximally revealed the theme of spiritual and material values. There is nothing in the picture but money. However, this work is among the most expensive: it was sold for 43.8 million dollars. Thus, Warhol proved his main idea: “art is profit if it sells well.”

6. Eight Elvises

Eight Elvises, 1963

The palm among Warhol’s most expensive works belongs to the painting “The Eight Elvises,” which the artist was inspired by the untimely deceased king of rock and roll. These few Presleys are worth $108.1 million. The artist wanted not only to remember Elvis, but also to reflect his favorite theme in art - the theme of the frailty of fame, the monotonous repetition of identical images and the fear of death. Warhol completed the painting in his favorite color – silver.

7. Green Coca-Cola bottles

Green Coca-Cola bottles, 1962

What could be simpler - just depict a well-known bottle? But this was the whole secret of Andy Warhol’s art - it should be understandable to everyone, and everyone drinks Coca-Cola: from the president to the ordinary worker. The artist made a bet not on elitism, but on mass appeal, and he was right. “The amazing thing about this country is that it has given rise to a new tradition of consumption - the rich buy exactly the same products as the poor. The President drinks Coke, Liz Taylor drinks Coke and, just think, you drink Coke too,” he said.

8. Red Lenin

Red Lenin, 1987

From celebrities, whom Andy Warhol painted very often, the artist moved on to politicians. One of his later works was the painting “Red Lenin,” which until recently belonged to Boris Berezovsky. Even before his death, the oligarch sold the work of art and “Red Lenin” went under the hammer for almost 202 thousand dollars to a private collector. Initially, the silk-screened reproduction of Warhol was estimated at 45-75 thousand dollars.

9. Queen Elizabeth II

Queen Elizabeth II, 1985

The 100 x 80 centimeter images of Elizabeth II were based on a 1975 photograph of the queen by photographer Peter Grujon and were included in Warhol's Reigning Queens collection. It also included his portraits of Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands, Margrethe II of Denmark and Ntombi Twala of Swaziland. The British Queen is depicted in the artist’s works wearing the Vladimir Tiara, which once belonged to representatives of the Russian Imperial House of Romanov. Recently, Elizabeth II bought four portraits of herself by Andy Warhol for the Royal Collection.

10. Che Guevara

Che Guevara, 1968

Few people know that the famous version of Che Guevara's "Heroic Guerrilla" poster did not belong to Andy Warhol. The fact is that his companion Gerard Malanga created this work in the style of Warhol, passing off the work as a drawing by the latter for profit. But Gerard’s scam was revealed and prison awaited him. Then Warhol saved the situation - he agreed to recognize the fake as his work on the condition that all the proceeds from the sale would go to him.

Andy (Andrew) Warhol was born in Pittsburgh, America on August 6, 1928. The Warhola family (real name Warhola) moved to the States from Slovakia, so Andy’s nationality is Rusyn. First, the father of the family, Andrei, moved to America in search of work, and in 1921 his wife Yulia joined him.

Outrageous artist Andy Warhol

Andrew's elder sister, Justina, was born and died in infancy, in her parents' homeland. In addition to Justina, the boy had two older brothers and one younger. My father worked in a mine, my mother was a housewife and worked part-time by washing floors, windows and making artificial flowers from scrap materials.

After moving to Oakland (a suburb of Pittsburgh), Andy went to a very ordinary school. The boy grew up to be a cheerful, tall guy (as an adult, Warhol’s height was 180 cm), until illness knocked him down. In the third grade, Andrew fell ill with Sydenham's chorea, which was a consequence of scarlet fever. With this disease, a person is seized by muscle cramps that he is unable to control.

From an ordinary playful boy, Andy instantly turned into a little sufferer, bedridden. He could not go to school, and besides, his former comrades teased him. The boy began to be terrified of hospitals, doctors, injections and everything related to illness.

To entertain and cheer up her son, Julia begins to draw him different pictures, buys magazines and newspapers. It was then that little Andrew became addicted to drawing: he drew light bulbs, pens, keys, trying to find something new in everyday things and creating his first works of art. The boy fell in love with making collages from newspaper clippings, and then watching stories in moving pictures using a projector.

At the age of 9, Andrew began taking free art classes and even planned to enroll at a local university to teach drawing later. A real tragedy for the whole family was the death of father Andrei Varkhol, who died as a result of an accident in a mine.

After graduating from high school, Warhol entered the Carnegie Institute of Technology, planning to later work as an illustrator in the field of advertising. In 1949, the future king of pop art received a bachelor's degree in graphic design and set off to conquer New York, changing his last name from Warhol to Warhol, and his first name from Andrew to Andy.

Carier start

Andy had no shortage of talent: already in his youth, at the beginning of his career, he managed to gain the attention of large corporations. And he started, like many advertising artists, by designing shop windows. Also, at the beginning of his career, the young man painted postcards and posters and decorated stands. At this time, Warhol collaborated with fashion magazines Harper's Bazaar and Vogue.

Real success came to the artist after creating an original advertisement for shoes of the brand “I. Miller." Andy drew the shoes in ink and decorated them with blots. Fame brought the young man a decent income; famous brands began to sign contracts with him. However, the master himself considered his success only a step on the path to “high art,” about which he had a very unique idea.

In 1952, the first exhibition of Warhol’s works was held in New York, and four years later he was accepted into the “Art Editors Club.” This period dates back to the artist’s fascination with the screen printing method, which he used to create and subsequently reproduce his works. Using matrices based on his own photographs and newspaper photographs, Andy created his most famous paintings, monochrome and color collages with images, which later became symbols of pop art.

Creation

In 1960, Andy began designing Coca-Cola cans, followed by graphic work, drawing banknotes. Then began the stage of “tin cans”, which were depicted using painterly methods and screen printing methods. Urhall's artistic lens included Campbell's soups and other utilitarian objects.

In 1962, an exhibition of Warhol's best works was held, after which critics considered Andy one of the leading masters of pop art. His work aroused conflicting opinions: some argued that Warhol was a satirist emphasizing the consumerist nature of American life, others believed that all of his “masterpieces” were an exclusively commercial project, well-organized self-PR aimed at generating income.

The artist himself, being a brilliant master of shocking and self-irony, promoted artistic art not as something extraordinary and deserving of worship, but as creativity aimed at the broad masses. Warhol is considered the most commercially popular artist of the last century. He has commissioned portraits of Mick Jagger, the Shah of Iran and other celebrities, and his most expensive painting, “Silver Car Crash (Double Disaster),” was sold in 2013 for $1,054,000.

In 1963, Andy Warhol bought an abandoned building in Manhattan, where he opened a studio, calling it “The Factory.” It was here that Andy's team of assistants reproduced his masterpieces using silk-screen printing, and here he shot his films, which, however, few people saw. Parties were constantly held in the “Factory” building, people of art and journalists, models and other representatives of bohemia gathered.

In 1964, the “Factory” hosted another exhibition of its owner’s works, where installations from used containers and other utilitarian items were presented. Warhol received not only the title of King of Pop Art, but also the leading representative of modern conceptual art.

Assassination attempt

In June 1968, Andy Warhol was assassinated by the famous feminist and model Valerie Solanas, who starred in one of his films. Having received three bullets in the stomach, Andy miraculously survived. He suffered clinical death and major surgery, and the consequences of this incident haunted him for the rest of his life.

Warhol did not sue the girl, but Valeria received three and a half years in prison anyway. As for Andy, he faced long-term treatment and wearing a corset, and his fear of doctors, illness and death only intensified. Also, as a reminder of the assassination attempt and Andy’s operation, there were terrible scars, which the artist did not hesitate to show off in front of the cameras.

No matter what, the artist will continue to create. In 1979, he began painting a car, and in 1983, at the request of wildlife conservationists, he created a series of silk-screen prints called “Endangered Species.” This included images of the Amur tiger, tree frog, black rhinoceros, Grevy's zebra, giant panda and other endangered animals. These works will be exhibited at the Darwin Museum in Moscow in March 2017.

Personal life

Andy Warhol never advertised his personal life, but he also did not hide his connections, both friendly and romantic. For a long time, Warhol was credited with an affair with his muse and friend, model Edie Sedgwick. They were inseparable, dressed the same, painted their hair and nails, wore similar hairstyles, Edie starred in Andy’s films and posed for paintings.

When the couple separated, there were rumors about drug addiction of both representatives of pop culture, but there is no official confirmation that Warhol was a drug addict. It is unlikely that Andy and his muse were connected by anything other than creativity, because the great artist of our time had many male lovers.

Death

What did Andy Warhol die of? This question worries many fans of his work. The artist died at the age of 58 in a Manhattan hospital after surgery to remove his gallbladder. The official cause of death is cardiac arrest. This happened on February 22, 1987.

Andy Warhol's legacy

Warhol's philosophy consisted of his keen outlook on life, self-irony and the ability to see the world from a different angle. The artist transferred all this to canvas, sincerely believing that commercial painting has a right to exist, and there is nothing wrong with that.

The style of Andy's paintings can be described as naturalistic pop art, although he often used generalized visual means. Thus, portraits of celebrities have idealized features and resemble a meager sketch, a squeeze out of the individuality of a particular character. Bright colors convey the artist’s mood, and the neon tones he used at the end of his life literally scream about unexpressed thoughts and feelings.

Describing a master's paintings is a thankless task. It is better to see his paintings once and feel the information message that Andy wanted to convey to the public, rather than study encyclopedias dedicated to his work.

• "America";
• "The Andy Warhol Diaries";
• "The Philosophy of Andy Warhol (from A to B and vice versa)."

Andy's ideas and talent continue to inspire artists, advertisers, creative people and businessmen. Thus, a sketch of glasses found in Warhol’s archival papers gave the Retrosuperfuture brand the idea of ​​​​creating a collection of sun accessories. Many fashion brands use various works of the master to create prints for collections of clothing, wallpaper, bags and other designer items.

1. Several films have been made about Andy’s work, in others he appears in a cameo role. Films about him - “I Shot Andy Warhol”, “I Seduced Andy Warhol”.
2. In the film "Basquiat", dedicated to the artist Jean-Michel Basquiat, the role of Warhol was played by the legendary.
3. The most famous film in our country in which Warhol is mentioned is “What Men Talk About.”
4. Andy Warhol created the famous Interview magazine, in which celebrities interviewed other stars, to attend film premieres.