Why is Andy Warhol's art so famous?

He achieved mainstream fame in the early 1970s by rubbing shoulders with stars at Studio 54, many of whom became the subjects of his portraits including Mick Jagger and Liza Minnelli. Warhol understood that visibility was the key to fame: being seen in the right place, at the right time, with the right people.

 
 
 
 

Few words about me


WHO IS ANDY WARHOL?

Andy Warhol is one of the most famous artists, ever. From his soup to his hair, he is an art legend. Andy Warhol was part of the pop art movement. He was born Andrew Warhola in 1928 in Pennsylvania. His parents were from a part of Europe that is now part of Slovakia. They moved to New York in the 1920s.


  • WHAT IS HE FAMOUS FOR?

    He is famous for exploring popular culture in his work. Popular culture is anything from Coca Cola to pop stars to the clothes people like to wear. He made a print of Campbell’s Soup – a popular brand of soup in the United States. He said he ate Campbell’s tomato soup every day for lunch for 20 years!
  • WHAT WAS HIS STYLE?

    He had a very particular personal style. He had a shock of white hair and was usually seen wearing a lot of black, leather jackets and glasses or sunglasses. He dressed up and experimented a lot with his personal style. He made a lot of self-portraits.
  • WHAT TYPE OF ART DID HE MAKE?

    Warhol liked to use bright colours and silk screening techniques. He liked using screen printing to mass-produce artworks based on photographs of celebrities, like this image of Marilyn Monroe. She was a movie star who was very famous in the 1950s.
  • WHAT IS SILK SCREEN PRINTING?

    Warhol liked making prints because it meant he could create multiples of the same image. Screen-printing is a printing process that can create lots of artworks that look the same. Sometimes Warhol would switch colours around and present a group of prints with contrasting colours together.
  • WHERE DID HE MAKE ART?

    Warhol hung out with a group of actors, models and artists in New York city in the 1960s. Warhol's studio in New York City was called The Factory. This was a reference to the mass-produced nature of his artworks. He saw art as a product, the same as the clothes you wear and the food you eat.
  • WHAT INSPIRED HIM?

    He loved Los Angeles, beauty and plastic, things that were modern and changed quickly. If he was alive now, what do you think would inspire him?