The Andy Warhol Bio

From the very beginning of the Andy Warhol Bio, he was obsessed with the rich and famous. For example as an eight year old he joined the Shirley Temple fan club and received an autographed photo from her that he always treasured. Another of his great passions was creating artwork. He combined all his passions with lots of hard work.

How Did Andy Warhol Die?
Andy Warhol did not die as a direct result of the gunshot wounds he received in 1968 although he suffered pain from the injury for the rest of his life. Most Andy Warhol Bio writers agree he died in a New York City hospital room in 1987 shortly after routine gallbladder surgery. It is possible he put off the surgery too long but there is no mistake he developed complications after the operation that led to his death. Those complications developed possibly because he wanted special arrangements for a room which somehow caused him more isolation and lack of care than a patient in a regular room.

Least Likely to Succeed
The Andy Warhol biography starts in Pittsburgh Pennsylvania where he was born in 1928. His family name was Warhola and they were poor working class immigrants. While in grade school he made the honor role for his artwork. In high school he used his art a way to win acceptance from peers. In college however opinions of his artistic talents varied. For instance one of his teachers said “If anyone would have asked me who was least likely to succeed, I would have said Andy Warhola.”

Truman Capote
While in college Andy became a commercial artist in a department store. When he moved to New York City after graduation from art studies in college his first job was at Glamour magazine to paint some shoes. Around this time he started to attend gay parties. He developed a crush on Truman Capote. The author was already a rich celebrity; Andy began stalking him. Many years later they became friends after Andy achieved his own success and fame but Capote said of his first meetings about Andy Warhol, “Just a hopeless, born loser.”

Magazines and his Mother
His mother was convinced Andy could not take care of himself when he was 24 years old so she moved into his New York City apartment. He was doing better in the business world by giving art directors and editors small presents of artwork and books he illustrated. This helped get him get an agent and the agent help him get a desirable assignment at the I. Miller Shoes account. He became one of the highest paid illustrators in the country because of his shoe art.

"Andy, Paint Money"
He had wonderful commercial artist success but Andy Warhol wanted to be taken seriously as a painter. Other artists that did commercial art on the side did not use real names for the commercial work but Andy always went by Warhol. When producing his artistic work he said he wanted to take all the emotion out of his work and keep his mind bland and empty as he painted. This is when he started to paint money and soup cans and gained major art gallery acceptance.

The Factory Technique
As a way to paint faster he decided to use a silk screen technique to produce the dollar bills and S&H Green Stamps faster. This also allowed him to distance himself from the finished artwork. Pop Art became a sensation in 1963 and Andy Warhol was considered part of that art movement. He was a celebrity.

Media Success
Movie making then gained his interest. He also needed more room to create his artwork so he rented a warehouse space and called it the Factory. A new exhibit at a gallery caused a sensation because it showed rows of his Brillo boxes. Andy Warhol was now a media success but he still wanted to become a financial success too.

Any Andy Warhol bio would say interesting characters entered his life at the Factory. Some of the most fascinating include Edie Sedgwick and the rock band The Velvet Underground with Lou Reed. He made movies without scripts. Then, in 1968 Valerie Solanas shot Warhol at the Factory almost killing him. He took months to recover and soon started Interview magazine.

Party and Disco Scene
Portraits of rich and famous people helped him financially. His portrait of Chairman Mao brought him fame. The book he wrote was called The Philosophy of Andy Warhol: From A to B and Back Again. He regularly went to parties, discos, and popular clubs like Studio 54. Interestingly, he was not noted as a drinker or drug user; in fact, his artwork was most important to him.

The Catholic church was also important to him and he regularly attended mass. In the United States his work was no longer shocking or considered the next new thing but it was in Europe. The last well known series on The Last Supper was a big hit in Italy.

Final Days
Andy Warhol died of complications from gall bladder surgery in 1987. Warhol's will said his entire estate should go to create a foundation dedicated to the "advancement of the visual arts." Warhol had so many possessions it took Sotheby's nine days to auction his estate after his death; the auction grossed more than $20 million. He is a bigger star today than when he was alive. In that sense the Andy Warhol Bio continues as the major auction gallery Christie's and Sotheby's routinely sell his work for millions of dollars each.


Other Biography of Andy Warhol Pages

Andy Warhol Art
The best Andy Warhol paintings were provocative when new and still iconic today.

Andy Warhol Soup Can
The Andy Warhol Soup Can is probably his best known artwork. He produced thousands of silkscreen art prints including portraits of Marilyn Monroe and Pop Art paintings of Campbell Tomato Soup.

Andy Warhol Shoes
Overview of how Andy Warhol shoes influenced his rise to fame and controversy.

Andy Warhol Artwork
The Andy Warhol Artwork most famous was Pop Art, the popular objects like Campbell's Soup Cans and Brillo Boxes found in everyday life and products in the mass media.

Andy Warhol Pictures
The Andy Warhol pictures most famous were portraits of Marilyn Monroe, Liz Taylor, Elvis and other celebrities that started as Polaroids.

Andy Warhol Quotes
The Andy Warhol Quotes on this page help give insight to man famous for wanting to be famous.

Andy Warhol Self Portraits
Most Andy Warhol Self Portraits reveal little but say a lot

Andy Warhol Biography
An Andy Warhol Biography listing major events in the artist's life.

Andy Warhol Self Portrait
An Andy Warhol Self Portrait reveals little; shows a lot of his Pop Art style.

Andy Warhol Pop Art
Andy Warhol Pop Art was not his original idea; he wanted to belong and then he became the name and human symbol of the movement.

Andy Warhol Prints
Andy Warhol prints of Campbell's Soup, Marilyn Monroe, and Elvis Presley helped form the Pop Art movement in the 1960s.

Other Page of Interest

Doug Dourgarian Art Gallery
The Doug Dourgarian art gallery on line of shoe art, landscapes, New York City art prints, and California wine art.

Click here to leave the Andy Warhol Bio for more links to all the artists and all the online art galleries, art prints, and art posters. You can also browse the links found at the bottom of Home Page.

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