Andy Warhol’s original name was Andrew Warhola. He was born on August 6th, 1928, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and died on February 22nd, 1987, in New York City.
Warhol was an American artist and filmmaker, a leading initiator of the pop art movement in the 1960s. His mass-produced art depicts the commercialised culture of the United States at the time of the swinging sixties.
Warhol graduated in 1949 from the Carnegie Institute of Technology. This is located in Pittsburgh and he graduated with a degree in pictorial design. After his studies, Andy then went to NYC, this was where he dedicated his work to becoming a commercial illustrator. He did this for around ten years.
He began painting the larger illustrations during the 50’s. In 1962, he created some of his paintings like the iconic paintings of Campbell’s soup cans, Coca-Cola bottles, and wooden replicas of Brillo boxes. By 1963, he was creating many of these paintings of consumer goods, and he then began printing hundreds of portraits of celebrities in vibrant colour palettes i.e. Marilyn Monroe.
Throughout his later life and until his death, Warhol continued to design and create prints about political issues and Hollywood celebrities. In his will, Andy Warhol stated that his “entire estate is be used to create a foundation for the advancement of the visual arts.” After this was discovered, The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts opened in 1987.
The Andy Warhol Museum is now located in his hometown of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. It is the largest museum that is dedicated to one artist in North America. Inside the museum is a huge range of Andy’s work which is permanently accessible to visitors. There’s archives and his most famous paintings all created by the pop artist.
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