Andy Warhol works. Andy Warhol is one of the most expensive artists of the twentieth century

“Now that everything is changing so quickly, there is hardly a chance to keep the images of your fantasies intact by the time you are ready to meet them.”

© Andy Warhol

If you spend your whole life trying to satisfy an obsession, what will come of it? After all American dream has so much to do with paranoia. Artist and founder of pop art Andy Warhol tried everything in my quest for fame available methods self-expression: we know his screen printing, arthouse films, and the Interview magazine he founded. And even Marilyn Monroe is known to many in the context of his work. Without a doubt, this is a man who changed the idea of ​​art of an entire country.

When the life of poor immigrant neighborhoods looms behind you, vanity ceases to be such a strong vice. Warhol's entire life was spent promoting his name as a brand, and even when he became a world-famous advertiser, this was not enough. The most colorful advertising posters are anonymous, but Warhol was looking for something that would elevate his name to a superlative degree.

That's when a can of soup appeared and brought the world to its knees. This was not Warhol's first work as an artist, but it was definitely the one that loudly announced the beginning of the era of pop art. Thirty-two identical images of Campbell's soup cans, hung in a row to imitate a display case, ended up in a museum. contemporary art in Los Angeles and, surprisingly, were bought out almost immediately. Thus, for the first time, a disposable object placed in the white walls of a museum became an art exhibit itself.

Suddenly the world was willing to worship brands as they once did the Bible. You could call it the revelation of the century: Warhol unwittingly forced America to look at itself. But no one was horrified by what they saw. Some treated this extravagant form of creativity as a harmless prank, while others simply did not recognize the boundaries.

The society of the 60s readily accepted the desire of art not to be burdensome and serious. Printed images of Coca-Cola cans as a symbol not only of the era, but also of freedom? Easily. A box of cereal in pride of place above the dinner table? Why not? Now many allow themselves to smile condescendingly: “But this is the sixties, then they needed it.” However, it is enough to even glance at our decade to be convinced that fashion and design are still successfully integrating the Warhol principle into the masses.

The principle of this is phenomenally simple: take any consumer product and present it as an object for glorification through repeated reproduction. Warhol even created his own "Factory", a bohemian club where close followers were engaged in the production of endless copies using the stencil method. Over the course of a year, “Factory” gave America and the world thousands (!) of absolutely identical images of Coca-Cola cans, Campbell soup, dollars and other well-known objects. Portraits were also placed on the “stream” famous personalities: Audrey Hepburn, Jacqueline Kennedy, even Mao and Lenin, traditionally done in acid colors.

“When Picasso died, I read in a magazine that he created four thousand masterpieces in his life, and I thought: “Look, I can do that much in one day.” You see, the way I make them with my technique, I really thought I could do four thousand paintings in a day. And they will all be masterpieces, because it will be the same picture.", Warhol wrote in his autobiography “From A to B and Vice Versa.”

One silkscreen in a thousand, of course, was created by the hands of Andy Warhol himself, but that mattered so little: does it really matter who presses the start button in, say, a cereal factory? The philosophy of the main ideologist of pop art implied that art, like any other commercial product, can be put into assembly line production. An artist can act not as work force, but as an entrepreneur. In the late 60s, ardent feminist Valerie Solanas showed up at the Factory and shot Warhol three times in the stomach. He remained alive, but, forced to spend some time in the hospital, noted with satisfaction that he had created a kind of kinetic business. The workshop continued to operate successfully without him.

It would be a big mistake to start looking for meaning in this kind of thing: assembly line art is completely devoid of emotions. And this is by no means an attack: Andy himself, in one of his interviews, answered the question “Do you put emotions into your work?” He shrugged his shoulders with a bored look: "No". “But how?”- the presenter was indignant. “What emotions do you want to see in a can of Campbell soup?”- Edie Sedgwick, Warhol's muse, raised her eyebrows. The audience laughed. Everyone desperately liked to acknowledge the emptiness and worthlessness of existence, just like the emptiness of tin cans.

Despite the apparent meaninglessness of pop art, a certain philosophy can still be traced. Previously, it could not have occurred to the average person that art could be anything other than a single work, executed in the unique manner of the author. Warhol forced the cultural community to ask the question: why shouldn’t art be mass? Coming from a family of immigrants, he was especially partial to the main idea of ​​\u200b\u200bblessed America: equality.

“You watch TV and you see Coca-Cola, and you know that the President drinks Coca-Cola, Liz Taylor drinks Coca-Cola and, just think, you can drink Coca-Cola too! All this really corresponds to the American idea of ​​​​equality."- said Warhol.

“Factory” set productivity records not only in the artistic and visual field. Naturally, the “romance with television,” as Warhol called it, grew into filmmaking. Over the course of five years, more than four hundred “Screen Tests” were created - three-minute films in which the artist’s friends, acquaintances, random guests and celebrities sat silently in front of the camera. "What do I need to do?"- the question was often asked. "Nothing. Just be yourself".

In the bright contrasting light and under close attention, some looked around, others took a drag on a cigarette. Someone looked bored and took a sip from a glass bottle of Coca-Cola, someone was chewing gum. Jane Holzer was brushing her teeth. James Rosenquist spun in his chair. Shot at standard film speed, at Warhol's request the films were projected at half the speed of sixteen frames per second, giving the images a somewhat magnetic quality. In the absence of sound, script and ideas, the nature of the characters was mercilessly exposed and demonstrated in isolation from the images created or imposed by journalists.

The feature films were also completely Warholian. An eight-hour film showing the top of the Empire State Building, a five-hour dream of the poet John Giorno, a three-hour story of the adventures of New York prostitutes, a half-hour film with the provocative title “Blow Job”, showing nothing but a close-up of a man standing against a wall and lighting a cigarette. cigarette at the twenty-fifth minute. The films never gained much popularity, but one cannot deny their significant contribution to the emergence of underground cinema.

Whatever Warhol was passionate about in search of new ways to attract attention and expand the boundaries of the generally accepted, special emphasis was always placed on seriality, repetition, accumulation. The 16mm camera captured literally everything that surrounded the artist. Thousands of snapshots were taken with his Polaroid.

The length of the tapes containing the recording of all conversations and personal reflections cannot be measured. Life itself has become the subject of meticulous collecting. When one day an acquaintance who did not get a role in a new experimental film returned home, took an LCD and jumped out of the window, Warhol was indignant: “Why didn’t he tell me anything? We could film him falling.". Without exception, everything that happened was subject to photo, video or audio documentation.

In the eighties, after Warhol’s death, journalists, like vultures, began to eviscerate his personal life, which had previously been carefully hidden. If anyone could be described as “weird,” Warhol was the ideal candidate. Now everyone was eager to get an explanation for his eccentric appearance, radical creativity and eccentric actions. The sudden discovery of six hundred and ten boxes of “Andy’s junk,” as his assistants called it when they didn’t yet know their value, was a real mockery of those who had made it their duty to tell a little more about Warhol. Andy himself mentioned these “Time Capsules” in his diaries, but no one could have imagined what a colossal volume of his daily existence he had sealed in ordinary cardboard boxes.

“Imagine studying his biography, trying to identify the essence of everyday life and time, and suddenly Warhol gives you 610 boxes of raw material to work with. This is so much, an absurd amount, everything has not been sorted out. And you find treasures there. A thin, rare silk-screen print on canvas, one of the first that Andy Warhol did as an artist, was found in a box full of unopened mail, magazines, Velvet Underground records and a map explaining how to get to some party., wrote New York independent curator Ingrid Schaffner.

"Time Capsules" are a kind of collective memory of the 70s and 80s, but at the same time they prove that no life can be completely explained, just as no collection can be absolutely complete.

It is quite ironic that Warhol, who admired celebrities so much, did not notice when he himself became one. The famous advertising illustrator, artist, director, collector, genius of pop art and underground cinema has gained fame greater than all his works. You can approach it in different ways: the question of what has the right to be called art today is more acute than ever.

“They say that time will change everything, but every time it turns out that you have to change everything yourself”

© Andy Warhol

(eng. Andy Warhol, August 6, 1928 - February 22, 1987, USA) – founder of Interview magazine, creator and producer of the rock band The Velvet Underground & Nico, artist, photographer, director, journalist, collector. A cult personality in the history of the pop art movement and modern art.

Biography and career

Childhood and early years

Andy Warhol (birth name - Andrey Warhola) was born on August 6, 1928 in Pittsburgh, USA. He grew up in a religious family of Slovak emigrants Julia Zavacki and Andrej Warhola Sr., along with two brothers, John and Paul. When Andy was 9 years old, his parents gave him a camera.. He later recalled that “the filming process delighted him.”

At the age of six, Andy Warhol attended free preparatory classes in art from the Carnegie Institute of Technology.

When Andy was in third grade, he contracted scarlet fever, which led to chorea, a disorder nervous system causing involuntary movements of the limbs. He developed a fear of doctors and hospitals. The boy did not visit for months school lessons and subsequently became an outcast in the class. During periods when Andy was bedridden, he drew, collected photographs of movie stars, and made collages from newspaper clippings.

In 1942, Andy Warhol's father died of peritonitis.

In 1945, Andy graduated from the Schenley School and entered the Carnegie Institute of Technology. During his lifetime, Andrei Varhola Sr. saved money for education.

In 1949, Warhol graduated from the Carnegie Institute of Technology with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree. That same year he moved to New York.

Carier start

In 1949, Andy Warhol designed the windows of Joseph Horn's department store. At the end of the same year, he began working as an illustrator in magazines. He developed advertising campaigns for various companies, designed postcards, covers for record company Columbia Records.

In the early 1950s. Andy Warhol earned about 100 thousand dollars a year. In 1952, he moved his mother from Pittsburgh to New York. In the same year, Warhol received his first award for graphic art from the Art Editors Club. In 1952, a small exhibition of Andy Warhol took place. It included fifteen drawings for the works of Truman Capote, which became bestsellers.

In 1959, Andy Warhol exhibited his work at the Solomon Guggenheim Museum.

In 1959 - 1963. Andy Warhol rented the top floor of a building located on the Upper East Side of Manhattan. Here he worked, organized exhibitions and parties.

In 1961, Andy Warhol began painting and creating illustrations in the pop art style.

Creativity flourishes

In the 1960s Andy Warhol made more than 300 experimental films. They were characterized by a lack of plot and were successful only in narrow circles. Many films were erotic, some reproduced a certain action from a person's life. Most famous paintings“Screen tests”, “Vinyl”, “Chelsea Girls” were considered.

“I started making my films with one actor. For several hours he smoked, sat, ate, slept. I did this because I realized that audiences go to the cinema mainly to see their favorite actor. So I gave them this opportunity.”

In 1961, Andy Warhol began producing “Green Coca-Cola Bottles” and “Campbell Soup Cans.” He used silk-screen printing techniques, with which he could endlessly recreate the same images. Andy Warhol explained a large number of images of Coca-Cola bottles this way: “everyone consumes this product - the president of the country, Elizabeth Taylor and the beggar who knows that his Coca-Cola is no worse than the president’s.” Monotonous repetition has become characteristic feature his work - photographs and drawings depicting Coca-Cola bottles were replaced by portraits of Elizabeth Taylor, Elvis Presley, Audrey Hepburn and others. Andy Warhol's works gained worldwide fame as an art object of the era of mass consumption.

“Painting a tin can in itself does not mean making real art. But what remains authentic about Warhol is that he raised the level of production of soup in a can to the level of creating paintings, giving them a mass character. In his works he reproduced the appearance of consumer culture.”

Robert Hughes, art critic, artist

In 1962, after the death of Marilyn Monroe, Andy Warhol created the famous “Marilyn Diptych”. Using screen printing, he applied 50 identical images of the actress from a 1953 photograph taken on the set of the film Niagara onto canvas. Left-hand side The diptych was a canvas with 25 colorful images of Marilyn Monroe, the right one imitated blurry negatives. There was an opinion that Andy Warhol associated the contrasting parts of the canvas with the life and death of the actress.

In 1963, Andy Warhol bought a building in Manhattan, equipped it as a studio and called it “Factory”. Here he created about 2000 paintings. Many extraordinary people gathered at the Factory, such as Edie Sedgwick, Holly Woodlaw, Viva, Gerard Malanga, who helped him create new projects.

In 1963, Andy Warhol presented a series of works “Five Deaths”, united by the theme of death and disaster.

In 1965, Andy Warhol showed his work at exhibitions in New York, Paris, Milan, Turin, Essen, Stockholm, Buenos Aires and Toronto.

In 1966, Andy Warhol created the rock band The Velvet Underground & Nico.

Assassination of Andy Warhol

On June 3, 1968, Andy Warhol was assassinated. Valerie Solans, a feminist who worked at the Factory, shot him 3 times in the stomach. After that, she approached the traffic controller on the street, handed her a pistol and said: “The police are looking for me. I shot Andy Warhol. He was too controlling of my life." Warhol did not testify against her. For “premeditated assault with intent to cause harm,” the court sentenced Valerie Solanas to 3 years in prison and compulsory treatment in a psychiatric hospital. Andy Warhol's internal organs were damaged and he was forced to wear a brace for the rest of his life. Subsequently, he took a photo in which the artist showed the scars from the operation.

Interview magazine

In 1969, Andy Warhol founded the magazine. The publication was originally called inter/View, which translated meant “between opinions.” The magazine was entirely dedicated to the topic of cinema. The publication published interviews with movie stars and directors, as well as reviews and reviews.

In the mid-1970s. The magazine's area of ​​interest also included materials on fashion, art, music, television and other aspects of pop culture. Interview began to regularly contain texts about models and other celebrities in the fashion industry. The peculiarity of the publication was that interviews with stars were conducted not by journalists, but by other stars. Anjelica Huston talked with Mae West, Bianca Jagger with , Michael Jackson interviewed the leader of the Neptunes, Andy Warhol interviewed Truman Capote. The idea of ​​“creating an atmosphere of relaxed heart-to-heart talk” belonged to the founder of the publication, it became business card magazine. Interview published photographs created by Francesco Scavullo, etc.

Other Andy Warhol projects

In 1969, Andy Warhol created the film “Flesh”, and in 1970 he released the film “Trash”. Both works contained an element of parody of commercial cinema. Between 1966 and 1968, Andy Warhol made several films featuring the Velvet Underground. He also produced several albums by this group and designed the cover of the first disc.

In the 1970s Andy Warhol began painting commissioned portraits. He created images of John Lennon, Michael Jackson, Muhammad Ali, Jane Fonda, Marlon Brando, Grace Jones, Mao Zedong, Liza Minnelli and others. Andy Warhol photographed the customer on Polaroid, selected best photo, enlarged it and transferred the image to canvas using silk-screen printing. After that I painted the canvas with oil paints.

In 1973, Andy Warhol began collecting the paraphernalia of his daily life - letters, newspapers, souvenirs, clothes, postcards, etc. - and putting them in boxes. He called these collections “Time Capsules.”

By 1987 there were 610 boxes. The Time Capsules are currently kept at the Andy Warhol Museum.

In 1975, Andy Warhol published the book “The Philosophy of Andy Warhol. From A to B and vice versa."

In 1979, Andy Warhol painted a BMW car (model M1).

“I tried to draw what speed looks like. When the car moves, all the lines and colors blur.”

In the mid-1980s. The Andy Warhol shows “Andy Warhol Television” and “Fifteen Minutes with Andy Warhol” were broadcast on MTV.

On February 22, 1987, Andy Warhol died in his sleep at Cornwell Medical Center in Manhattan., where he underwent surgery to remove his gallbladder. His brothers Paul and John transported the body to Pittsburgh and buried it on the grounds catholic church Holy Spirit. On memorial service in the Cathedral of St. Patrick's Day in New York was attended by about two thousand people.

Andy Warhol's net worth was estimated at $600 million.

In 1989, after the death of Andy Warhol, the “Diaries” were published - the artist’s personal notes, which he kept since the 1960s.

Personal life of Andy Warhol

Despite the fact that Andy Warhol was a public figure, a key figure in the second half of the 20th century, the details of his personal life are unknown. He considered his closest person to be his mother, with whom he lived in the same apartment in Manhattan for 20 years. He never openly declared his homosexuality, but contributed to the development of gay themes in American cinema. According to Andy Warhol's diary entries, he had no close relationships with either a woman or a man. It is known about his attraction to Truman Capote, to whom he wrote love letters.

“Fantasy love is much better than real love. The most exciting thing is if you fall in love with someone and never have sex with them. The most insane attraction arises between two opposites that never meet.”

In life, Andy Warhol wore makeup, dyed his hair straw color, and wore wigs with black locks. Having an androgynous appearance, he was sometimes photographed in women's dresses. Andy Warhol had platonic affairs with Edie Sedgwick and model Nico.

Films about Andy Warhol

• 1995. "I shot Andy Warhol." The film is based on real event- Valerie Solance's assassination attempt on Andy Warhol.
• 2001. "Andy Warhol: The Finished Painting." Documentary, telling about the work of Andy Warhol.
• 2001. "Absolute Warhola." Documentary film about the life of Andy Warhol and his family.
• 2006. “I seduced Andy Warhol” (“Factory Girl”). The film shows the relationship between Andy Warhol and his muse Edie Sedgwick.

Andy Warhol Museum

In 1994, a seven-story museum dedicated to the life and work of Andy Warhol opened in Pittsburgh. The galleries display about 900 paintings, 77 sculptures, 4,000 photographs, 4,350 films. The originals are also kept here. diary entries, wigs, etc. The museum annually organizes visiting exhibitions in different countries peace.

The commercial significance of Andy Warhol's work

In 1995, the Campbell Soup Can series was sold to New York's Museum of Modern Art for $14,500.

In 2004, Marilyn's Diptych was ranked third on The Guardian's list of 500 Greatest Works of Contemporary Art. The painting is currently on display at the Tate Gallery in Liverpool.

In 2006, 1,010 works by Andy Warhol were sold at auction for a total of $199 million.

In 2008, the canvas "Eight Elvises" was sold for $100 million.

In 2010 total amount sales of Andy Warhol's works exceeded $300 million.

In 2011, “Campbell Soup Can,” one of Warhol’s first paintings, was sold at Christie’s auction house for $10 million.

In 2012, at auctions, the total amount from sales of Andy Warhol's works was $380 million.

As of 2013, Andy Warhol's works are the best-selling. Second place goes to paintings by Pablo Picasso.

Interpretation of pop art images of Andy Warhol in the 21st century

In 2011, The Campbell Soup Company released a limited-edition collection of Campbell's canned soups. Its release was timed to coincide with the fiftieth anniversary of the appearance of the series of paintings of the same name by Andy Warhol. In honor of this date, four packaging options were created. All the cans were painted red, blue, cyan, green, yellow - these are the colors Andy Warhol used in his works. The products were presented in the American Target chain of stores at a price of 75 cents per can.

The packaging was decorated with images of Warhol's muses and his quotes. The cost of cosmetic products ranged from $35 to $75.

In 2012, the December issue of Dujour published a photo shoot dedicated to Warhol and his muses. tried on the images of Edie Sedgwick, Nico, Candy Darling and Andy himself.

Andy Warhol Interview with Glenn O'Brien (June 1977, published in Interview magazine)

G.O.: What was your first piece of art?
E.U.: I cut out paper dolls.

G.O.: How old were you?
E.U.: Seven.

G.O.:Did you get good grades in art school?
E.U.: Yes, and the teachers loved me.

G.O.:Did they say that you have natural talent?
E.U.: Something like that. Unnatural talent.

G.O.: Did you take art in school?
E.U.: I was often sick, so to catch up with the program I went to summer school. I had one art lesson.

G.O.: How did you have fun when you were a teenager?
E.U.: I wasn't trying to have fun. I only went to a Frank Sinatra concert once.

G.O.: How did you decide to become an artist and move to New York?
E.U.: I went to Carnegie Tech. Philip Pearlstein was going to New York for the holidays, and I went with him. I took my bag and we got on the bus. We showed our portfolio around New York and hoped to get a job. Tina Fredericks, who worked at Glamor magazine, said she would hire me as soon as I finished school. This was my first job.

Official site: www.warholstars.org

Official website in Russian: www.andy-warhol.ru

Museum website: www.warhol.org

Foundation website: www.warholfoundation.org

Currently the name of this outstanding master has become a true symbol of a whole movement, which is usually designated by the term “pop art”. But what allowed this outstanding American to achieve such impressive recognition? You can understand this only by looking into the past of the great artist.

Andy Warhol's Early Years, Childhood and Family

The parents of the future artist moved to the USA at the beginning of the twentieth century. Andy's father worked in a coal mine, and his mother was a housewife.

Our Andy's love for drawing and fine arts came back when he was early childhood. In the third grade the future famous artist fell ill with Sydenham's chorea and remained bedridden for about a year. This syndrome affects the muscles and leads to uncontrolled movements of the limbs. During this period, he began to “kill time” by painting all kinds of portraits, landscapes, and also making collages from old newspaper clippings.

It is quite remarkable that already in those days Warhol began to paint the most ordinary objects of the surrounding world - lit lamps, cigarette packs, key chains and much more. Subsequently, the artist admits that it was during this period that the formation of his corporate identity, which remained with him until the end of his days and brought him great success and fame.

After graduation high school Andy attended Carnegie Mellon Institute of Technology, where he began studying graphics and the basics of commercial illustration. According to some authoritative sources, during his college years Andy was one of the most talented students in his group. However, academic success was accompanied by an obvious inability to find contact with peers and teachers.

Biography of Andy Warhol

After receiving his diploma (specialty - graphic design), our young Andy moved to New York, where he got a job as a window designer. During this period he painted advertising posters, holiday cards, and was also involved in the general decoration of stands. Some time later, he began to fruitfully collaborate with the famous glossy publications Harper's Bazaar and Vogue. Here he worked as an illustrator.

Artist Andy Warhol's career

In 1952, Andy held his first full-scale exhibition, which instantly brought him huge success. In 1956, Warhol was successfully accepted into the “Art Editors Club”, and some time later he began creating his first paintings using the screen printing method.

To this moment talented artist earned about one hundred thousand dollars a year, remaining by this indicator one of the most successful authors of his time.

In the second half of the fifties, he first began to get involved in photography, but fine art still remained above all else for him.

In 1960, Andy Warhol created a design for cans of the Coca-Cola drink, which brought him several more large checks. During this period, our today's hero began to create a series of paintings about products popular culture, which very soon became his “calling card”.

Episode about Andy Warhol from the film “What Men Talk About”

Between 1960 and 1962, the artist presented to the public a series of works depicting cans of Campbell soup. This was followed by a series of works “Green Bottles of Coca-Cola”.

Works from the early sixties were exhibited in art gallery“Stabl” immediately became very popular. During this period, some called the artist’s paintings a reflection of the culture of mass consumption, while others simply spoke about the artist’s extraordinary ability to find aesthetics in ordinary things.

In 1963, Andy Warhol bought an old abandoned building in New York and organized something like his own workshop here. This place was called “Factory” and very soon became a springboard for the creation and presentation of works famous author. Having hired a team of young artists, the recognized master instructed them to recreate his own works, thus making art a product of mass consumption.

In the mid-sixties, Warhol began to get involved in alternative forms of art. He creates his works from cardboard, old cans, and powder packets. In addition, during this period, the talented author began making his first films.

However, it was not always possible to attribute these works to the field of cinema. Nowadays, the artist’s short cinematic studies are more often considered to be part of the same alternative art, since many of the master’s films did not even have a clear plot.

The assassination attempt and the last years of Andy Warhol's life

After the assassination attempt, Andy Warhol changed a lot. He often painted works related in one way or another to death. He was greatly influenced by the death of Marilyn Monroe, which resulted in the painting of his most famous painting dedicated to the actress. Subsequently, the works of this period will be identified by art connoisseurs as a separate stage of the author’s work.

Serving art in the life of the artist continued until the end of his days. In 1987, the great and incomprehensible Andy Warhol died in his sleep from cardiac arrest. At that time he was fifty-eight years old.

Personal life of Andy Warhol

Andy and his muse met in 1965, when Edie first came to the artist’s “Factory”. She starred in several of his films and although they were often not available to a wide circle viewers, the press began to write about the model more often.

"I Seduced Andy Warhol" (film trailer)

However, this relationship ended one day for an unknown reason, presumably due to Eddie’s excessive drug use.

Andy Warhol always kept his personal life secret. Although most researchers agree that great artist was gay, but this is not known for certain.

If you have ever seen Andy Warhol's paintings, you will never forget them. Somewhere in the deep shelves of your subconscious memory there will remain memories of these unusual, very bright paintings. But not everyone who has seen his paintings knows who Andy Warhol is.

So, let's try to dive into amazing world The artist and even, if not to unravel his personality, then at least feel the disturbing membranes of his soul.

It is banal to talk about where he was born, studied, and lived. But at least brief information necessary. Three countries count extraordinary artist ours - America, Slovakia, Ukraine. But perhaps one thing can be said without fail - creative heritage Andy Warhol belongs not to a specific country, but to the world.

Andy (Andrey Vargola) was born in Pistburg into a family of Rusyns from the Carpathians. His mother Yulia Vargola was then 36 years old. The father of the future artist worked in construction company. Andy was youngest child, the family also had two older sons. Between the ages of 4 and 8, Andy suffered a series of serious illnesses, among which the most severe disease was the Dance of St. Vitus. Because of this, suffering from attacks more often in the summer, Andy was forced to spend his days in bed, playing with cut-out dolls and listening to the radio. His mother drew various pictures for Andy, which instilled in her son a taste for drawing. A little later, from her own earnings, Julia bought her son a small film projector, with which he could watch stories in pictures right on the wall of his room.

That's how it was in childhood creative potential Andy began to slowly develop. From the age of nine the boy began to attend free courses artistic skill. After graduating from school, the young man entered the Carnegie Institute of Technology to study drawing and design. There the student had an active life position- attended parties symphony orchestras, was interested in ballet.

The artist's creativity is postmodern, unrestrained, free.

"The Naked King", fashion and film

What is the secret of Warhol's creativity? Why are these supposedly still simple paintings known all over the world? His work: bold, shocking, seizes the moment, contains layers, underground, three-dimensional, created in the style of film. There is such a theory: draw something crazy, incomprehensible and you will become famous. This is the “naked king” principle, when no one understands the subtext, the “message” that is embedded in the work. And because of misunderstanding, it is considered lofty, incredible, a masterpiece. This is typical for Malevich’s “Black Square”. But this principle does not apply to Warhol’s work.

Andy lived for fashion, pop culture and film. Even in his youth, the artist created sketches of futuristic, very bright shoes with heels. These were design ideas. The main highlight was curved lines, by which connoisseurs actually recognized the “Warhol style” in design. Fashion was his passion. Perhaps the artist even perceived the reality around him through the subconscious glasses of fashionable glasses. He was a homosexual and did not hide it. Therefore, understand fashion trends it was even easier. It was embedded in his chromosomes, in his soul.

Cinematography also constituted an important facet of his essence. Film has become a means of understanding the world, understanding reality. Andy had his finger on the pulse of life. This is evidenced by his paintings: “The Electric Chair”, “Racist Riots”, “Kens Soup” and many other paintings that reflected the current reality. He presented events in photographs with an unusual combination of colors and blurred lines. Not the way everyone saw it. The artist, as it were, captures our attention, makes us think about everyday phenomena, and try to understand them differently. And perhaps be horrified. The electric chair, racial intolerance, processed foods - everything was typical for the then American society. AND simple people they didn’t pay much attention to this anymore, they were worried own life, own problems. Andy appealed to everyone's heart and it was not difficult to recognize his “message”. He created a massive elite art simultaneously.

Honest and “colored” pop stars

But Andy’s most famous paintings are portraits of pop stars, made using his usual “photo colorization” technique. The most famous from this series are images of Marilyn Monroe and Elvis Presley. The artist seems to look into the soul of the people he depicts. And if you look closely, you can feel the tragedy of Marilyn Monroe’s personality. Brightly colored and pink-faced, she looks miserable. The truth is hidden in the eyes. They look out from under their eyelashes, somehow embarrassed and confused. Perhaps Merlin never found the meaning of life. And this powder, excessive paint on the face is just a mask behind which the true essence of the star is hidden, which no one wanted to see. Same thing with the picture of Elvis. It is made in darker tones, in grey. Often the image is half erased. The singer pointed a gun at the viewer, his face distorted. Perhaps Elvis wants to defend himself?

15 frames of a “live” portrait

It is not surprising that with such a perception of the world the artist also created films. And this movie also amazed the world! For example, portraits of people. Andy filmed a motionless person for three minutes, and then edited it so that there were 15 frames per second. The image turned out slow, somehow surreal. In this way, the person can be understood; these were “living” portraits. Or a monotonous shot for 8 hours. Everything was here: color, the movement of clouds, space, even a plane flying by. But the camera didn't move. We simply watched a piece of the world, how exactly in this place the morning begins, the day passes, and twilight falls. These were the spells of reality. Not everyone managed to understand this movie; it is a real art house. But now, Andy is being compared to the Impressionists. When Monet also “played with color” when he painted the façade of Rouen Cathedral. He wrote the structure in different periods day. And each time the picture came out different.

Andy Warhol is not just an artist, he is art himself. He was not afraid of experiments, crazy ideas, and was not afraid to show himself to the world. The artist is not just the embodiment of postmodernism, he has done a lot for the development of this direction. And let someone say that his work is abnormal, immoral, uninteresting. But those who are not afraid to break stereotypes and lay a new foundation for art usually remain in the memory of generations. Standard, stereotyped, correct is not art, it’s just a surrogate that socialist realism imposed on us. There are no limits to human potential, because we all draw inspiration from the vast depths of space, with which we are actually connected. The “collective unconscious” exists in each of us, but not everyone can fully hear this voice.

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. The painting is now in London, at the Tate Gallery.

2. A can of Campbell's soup

Campbell Soup Can, 1962

This painting, according to the artist, was his best job. 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 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 supplied with yellow banana, tearing it off, one could find another fruit - this time Pink colour and cleaned.

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 a profit if it sells well.”

6. Eight Elvises

Eight Elvises, 1963

The palm among Warhol’s most expensive works belongs to the painting “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 birth to new tradition 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 became 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.