5 Essential Facts About Andy Warhol

Pittsburgh-born artist Andy Warhol fundamentally defined the Pop Art movement, but he got his start as a successful magazine illustrator for major magazines. In the early 1960s, he transitioned away from commercial illustration and opened The Factory in New York City, which operated as a space to both create and socialize. For Warhol, everything was his muse, and in turn, the art world became more accessible as he blurred the lines between entertainment, reality TV, and photography throughout his legendary career.

From his iconic Polaroid photos and silkscreens, which ranged from oversized Brillo boxes to Campbell soup cans, to surviving an assassination attempt, here are five essential facts about Warhol.

1. The Factory Debunked the Myth of the Genius Artist

The Abstract Expressionist creatives of the 1950s showed the artist as a solitary, moody genius. Warhol debunked this myth by becoming creative director of his own brand, overseeing the production of works in his studio. He opened the Factory art studio in the early 1960s, which ran until the mid 1980s at various locations across Manhattan. Frequent visitors, including Edie Sedgwick, Lou Reed, and Bob Dylan, turned the Factory into a social gathering place and salon.

2. Warhol Fused Together High And Low Culture

Warhol broke the boundary between high art (museum world) and low culture (advertising, tabloids) in his artwork. He put everyday items like Coca-Cola bottles, Campbell’s soup cans, and Brillo soap boxes into the gallery setting and used his background as a commercial illustrator to bring a bold, branding aesthetic to his art.

3. He Turned Fine Art Into a Commercial Machine

Long before Jeff Koons and Damien Hirst had assistants painting on an assembly line, Warhol embraced the business side of art. He famously said, “Being good in business is the most fascinating kind of art. Making money is art and working is art and good business is the best art,” and he would delegate labor in his art studio so that they were producing dozens of silkscreen artworks a day. Contracts and client commissions were part of his creative practice, along with managingThe Velvet Underground and founding Interview Magazine.

4. Warhol Turned Celebrity Portraiture Into Fine Art

He didn’t paint portraits of Marilyn Monroe, Elvis Presley, or Jacqueline Kennedy, but used images of celebrities from press photos, film studio headshots, and tabloid newspapers. He zoomed in and cropped images and painted on flat blocks of color. He secured commissions to capture portraits of Michael Jackson, Dolly Parton, Liza Minnelli, and Mick Jagger, and countless other celebrities.

5. His Films And Video Art Were Foretellers of Social Media

Whether it was his avant-garde films like Empire, an eight-hour clip of the Empire State Building (like slow TV broadcasts or Twitch), or his Screen Tests, which were precursors to the selfie, looking back, Warhol’s film and video work were precursors to social media and even reality TV. He was the host of the MTV talk show, Andy Warhol’s Fifteen Minutes, from 1985 to 1987, featuring interviews with Keith Haring, Grace Jones, William S. Burroughs, and co-host Jerry Hall. It was centered around a loose media style that echoes social media, just as Warhol predicted in 1968 that “In the future, everyone will be world-famous for 15 minutes.”