10 Facts About Andy Warhol

Though often seen as apolitical, Andy Warhol subtly and overtly engaged with politics throughout his career. Early works like Race Riots condemned violence against civil rights activists, while Vote McGovern presented a scathing critique of Nixon, reportedly so disliked by the president that it led to Warhol's annual IRS audits. Warhol’s admiration for political figures also shaped his art, as seen in his portraits of JFK, where he juxtaposed the president’s youthful appeal with moments of weariness. Additionally, his Factory became a sanctuary for marginalised subcultures, including LGBTQ+ communities, showing his support for minority voices and challenging traditional societal norms.

Andy Warhol maintained a complex relationship with Catholicism, balancing devout practices with personal conflict over the Church’s stance on issues like sexuality. While peers drifted from religious roots, Warhol quietly attended church, kept crucifixes in his home, and explored Catholic themes in his work, from appropriations of The Annunciation to Saint Apollonia. This subtle devotion reflected his bond with his mother, with whom he lived most of his life, and his early experience with loss, as seen in works like Living Room, which depicted the space where his father’s body lay in repose. Warhol’s art blended Pop with sacred imagery, transforming everyday media into reflections on faith and mortality.

Warhol was shot by Valerie Solanas in 1968. Two bullets from Solanas’ gun tore through Warhol’s stomach, liver, spleen, oesophagus and both lungs. He was briefly declared dead at one point, but doctors were able to revive him. He spent two months in the hospital recuperating from various surgeries and would be forced to wear a surgical corset for the rest of his life to hold his organs in place.

This incident made Warhol much more guarded and intensified Warhol’s fear and loathing of hospitals. This reticence contributed to Warhol delaying gallbladder surgery for several years, shortly after which he suffered a cardiac arrest and passed away.

Andy Warhol’s use of wigs began as a means to cover early hair loss but evolved into an iconic part of his public persona, reinforcing his mystique and artistic identity. Crafted meticulously by wig makers, his wigs ranged from blonde to his signature silver, blending seamlessly with his Pop Art aesthetic and becoming a crucial element of his self-portraiture. Warhol saw his wigs as extensions of himself, trimming them regularly and treating them as if they were real hair, symbolizing both his vulnerability and his carefully curated public image. In self-portraits, his wigs obscured his natural features, heightening the sense of concealment and contrast, which fed his fascination with fame and celebrity while protecting his privacy.

The Factory was a haven for figures from various subcultures and minorities as well as those challenging the gender binary. In 1963, Andy Warhol opened his first Factory on East 87th Street, a space he envisioned as an "art factory" for creative experimentation in painting, printing, photography, and film. Over 24 years and four Manhattan locations, the Factory became both a hub for artistic innovation and a trendy social scene, redefining art, fame, and popularity.

In 1959, before his fame with Soup Cans, Andy Warhol collaborated with interior decorator Suzie Frankfurt to create Wild Raspberries, a playful, self-published cookbook that satirised the elaborate recipes of 1950s haute cuisine. Filled with humorous recipes like “Omlet Greta Garbo,” meant to be enjoyed alone, and “Gefilte of Fighting Fish,” where fish are instructed to “bone each other,” the cookbook blends Warhol's wit with whimsical illustrations. This project hinted at Warhol's fascination with commercial culture, a theme he later envisioned expanding into a restaurant concept, the "Andy-mat," where machines would serve food in a 1950s-style automat setting.

Andy Warhol’s Campbell's Soup Can paintings are iconic works of 1960s pop art that elevate everyday items to the realm of fine art, capturing America’s fascination with mass production and consumer culture. Warhol chose Campbell's Soup, a product he claimed that he ate every day for twenty years, as it represented a quintessentially American brand—constant, affordable, and enjoyed by all social classes. By focusing on this familiar label, Warhol embraced the Pop Art ethos of "liking things," transforming a humble supermarket staple into a symbol of cultural unity and modern life.

As the son of Slovakian immigrants, he was born in Pittsburgh and named Andrew Warhola. He later dropped the “a” in Warhola to make it sound more “American.”