4 most important works by Andy WARHOL

Within the most important works of Andy Warhol we highlight the Marilyn Monroe diptych, the series dand Campbell's cans, Double Elvis or works like Rat Riot or The Last Supper, among a long list of paintings. At unPROFESOR.com we tell you more about them.

Warhol, born in New York and a descendant of Slavic emigrants, became one of the most relevant and iconic figures of the second half of the 20th century. An artist who broke molds in every sense, both by reach formulas from advertising to art, as when applying a romantic and glamorous vision to any moment of his daily life.

Defender of mechanical art and of breaking the lines between intellectuality and popular culture, Warhol is an artist whose work we will learn more about in this lesson from unPROFESOR.com.

Index

1. Warhol's work and pop art
2. What is Andy Warhol's most important work?
3. Campbell's Soup Cans (1962), another of Warhol's most important works
4. Double Elvis (1963)
5. Race Riot (1964)

Obsessed by fame and controversial, Warhol wore a intense life in which talent, bohemian and artistic life, criticism of mass society and the defense of the gay, African-American and Latino collective went hand in hand. Sick since childhood and admitted to hospitals for a rare illness, Warhol also died suddenly. dramatic as a result of a shooting at the hands of Valerie Solanas, one of the members of his studio, TheFactory.

Among the characteristics of his work we can highlight his participation in the Pop-Art movement. Here we give you the most notable elements of Andy Warhol's work:

• Warhol was a revolutionary figure within the artistic culture of the 20th century.
• He scathingly criticized the frivolous and superficial American consumer society.
• He developed the dry line technique, that is, applying ink to paper and then drying it. The use of tracing paper allowed him to repeat the images as many times as he wanted and carry out numerous variations.
• He proposed democratize the arts.
• He arrived to immortalize personalities of politics and the arts most popular of his time, in addition to elements that he considered defining of American society.
• He was a genius ahead of his time and anticipated the era of social media. by documenting his daily life with cameras and recorders.
• The study of him, The Factory, It was a meeting point for all kinds of personalities, from writers to drag queens, artists and all kinds of celebrities.
• He applied the formulas of advertising communication to art.
• He used the serigraphy as a method of creating images in series, using different colors in each image.
• He resorted to a casual color range.

Art critics consider that among the most important works of Andy Warhol, the Marilyn Monroe diptych. The work was created by the artist in 1962 after the fateful and unexpected death of the popular actress and sex symbol of an entire era.

The work is composed of twenty five paintings located in the left area of ​​the diptych, all in strong colors, while on the right are located other twenty-five done in black and white. A way to capture the happiness and glamor of his Hollywood star side in the face of the sadness and darkness of his personal life.

Warhol recovered trivial and vulgar objects such as the Campell's soup can, a common and very recognizable product for North Americans and with which the artist intended to provoke and criticize consumer society.

The screen printing series consists of 32 canvases and was created in 1962. Each canvas represents a different flavor of Campbell's soup, also being one of the most iconic works of pop-art. A vulgar element that when taken to the canvas is transformed into art.

Warhol, who was already a renowned graphic illustrator, chose this object so common in American kitchens, also in his own, and created a work in which mechanical uniformity and subversive criticism of the capitalist society of his time.

Double Elvis It is another of Andy Warhol's best works. In this work Warhol portrays another of the great myths of star system North American, Elvis Presley. One of the idols of the moment in one of his best performances: the king of rock is also the protagonist of a western. A factor that attracted the artist to portray it as a product that is doubled, tripled or reproduced in multiple images to the consumer's taste.

The painting is based on a still from the film Flaming Star, a film performed by the singer in 1960. The promotional image of the film obsessed Warhol so much that he made that series in which Elvis appears in multiple and overlapping figures, a resource that allows the singer to move. This painting is also famous for being one of the most expensive paintings in history.

We finish this review of Andy Warhol's most important works with Race Riot. Warhol had the frivolous side to him, but also a restlessness and concern towards social issues. The racial clashes of 1963 aroused the artist's indignation and he created a series of images in which denounces the hypocrisy of North American society. A society in which racial discrimination continues to prevail and imposes a white and Anglo-Saxon culture on a diverse society.

Warhol uses a photograph from the magazine life, photograph of Charles Moore, and uses the colors of the American flag to create a work of art with new meaning. An intervention typical of pop art and Warhol.

Here we discover others Pop Art artists who also left their mark.

If you want to read more articles similar to Andy Warhol: most important works, we recommend that you enter our category of History.

• BAEZA, Almudena. Andy Warhol and the romanticism of a soup can. 2018.
• CIRLOT, Lourdes. Andy Warhol. Nerea Publishing House, 2001.
• GÓMEZ GALLARDO, Carmen Belén. Cult Eye: Andy Warhol & Pop Art. 2020.
• MOLINA, Inmaculada. Andy Warhol. The mechanical art. Art Bulletin, 2018, no 39, p. 355-357.
• USÓ ESPINOSA, Celia Lidón. Andy Warhol, the fairy godmother of pop. 2006.