Andy Warhol was part of the pop art movement. His first job was illustrating advertisements in fashion magazines. Today, he is known as one of the most influential artists who ever lived. Discover here the biography of Andy Warhol.
Andy Warhol: a brief biography
Andy grew up in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and was the son of a construction worker. His real name is Andrew Warhola. Andy Warhol's biography is a little fuzzy because his birth date was never recorded in a hospital. Andy liked to change his date of birth and make up stories about his youth when doing press interviews. At the age of 8, he suffered from a liver disease, which caused spasms in his limbs, sometimes uncontrollable. During his convalescence, his mother taught him to paint. He was a quiet and shy child, but he loved painting, photography and movies. When Andy was 14, his father died of liver disease. His father thought Andy was the smartest of his children and saved money so Andy could go to college. After graduating high school, he went to Carnegie Mellon University to study art.
A commercial artist, is that true?
After graduating from college, Andy moved to New York in 1959 and became known as an artist. He became a successful commercial artist. In his first job, his name in the credits was spelled "Warhol" instead of "Warhola". He liked the name and decided to keep it. Over the next ten years, Warhola did very well as a commercial artist. His work has won awards and is known for his unique style. But Andy wants to do more with his art. He wants to do something new and different.
Andy Warhol and Pop Art
In 1961, Andy proposed the idea of using mass-produced commercial products in the art he called Pop Art. He uses commercial images and reproduces them constantly. The first example of this concept is the Campbell's Soup Jar series. Andy also used pictures of celebrities. He repeated the same portrait over and over again, but using different colors and effects for each photo. Some of the celebrities he served include Marilyn Monroe, Che Guevara, Mao Zedong and Elizabeth Taylor.
He died in hospital in 1987 after a gall bladder operation but Andy Warhol's biography still inspires the world.