The Andy Warhol Biography

Major Events Timeline



There are several Andy Warhol biography for sale. The overview presented here gives the gist of his life and times. Ever since Andy Worhol paintings became popular to the general public he captured my attention and I asked the obvious questions like; "What is the deal with that wig?" and "Now art is Campbells Soup Cans and Brillo boxes?". Indeed, and they still hold broad appeal today so while you are here check out his Pop Art prints for sale here at the gallery. He would love the attention.

As a young art student I always wondered how far his artistic style would go, that is, would he end up painting every item on the grocery shelf? As it turned out, he didn’t have to make artwork out of every item, just the ones that meant something to him. The following is a high level view of the major events in his life story.

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Significant events in the Andy Warhol Biography and major time periods in the artist's life:

1928 Born on August 6 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania as Andrew Warhola.

1945 Graduates from Schenley High School in Pittsburh, PA.

1949 Graduates Carnegie Institute of Technology (now called Carnegie Mellon University) in Pittsburgh

1950 Moves to New York City to seek work as a commercial artist.

1955 Considered a commercial artist success through a combination of hard work and talent. The shoe paintings are a hit.

1960-64 The Pop Art movement includes Andy, together they help change the world's notions about art. He produces the Marilyn Monroe portrait and Campbell soup cans. Big name art galleries carry his work.

1964 Andy's studio is opened in a warehouse called the Factory. His career is enhanced through the silk screen artwork work and social aspects at The Factory.

1965-70 Many films are produced causing a sensation and has an artistic and business relationship with rock group The Velvet Underground.

1968 Andy Warhol shot and almost killed by Valerie Solanas.

1970s-80s His career becomes popular around the world. Major museums show his artwork. He makes portraits selling for $25,000 each.

1987 Andy Warhol dies after gallbladder surgery in a New York City hospital.

1994 The Andy Warhol Museum opens.

Andy Warhol biography books for sale:

The Philosophy of Andy Warhol : (From A to B and Back Again)

The Andy Warhol Diaries

Pop: The Genius of Andy Warhol

POPism: The Warhol Sixties

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Marilyn, c.1967 (On Blue Ground)
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The following links have more detailed Andy Warhol biography information.

Andy Warhol Shoes
The work he did on ladies shoes served as inspiration for some of my own shoe art on display here. Most of Andy Warhol shoe art was produced in his earlier years as a New York City commercial artist in the 1950s. Frequently he would take a shoe, make it larger than life and then add his special touch that would let them sparkle with personality.

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The whole process of cultivating a select group of influential friends was instrumental in helping him grow to a huge success. As I understand it, he would give copies of his prints to New Yorkers that he felt would help him become successful. The interesting thing about Andy is that he also wanted to become one of them: rich, famous, popular socialites. The whole concept of becoming a celebrity appealed to him enormously. It worked by publicizing himself and his work at the same time.

Andy Warhol Paintings
The Diamond Dust Shoe paintings were an interesting group because his original intent was to use actual diamond dust to make the painting glitter. Unfortunately his experiments with the process led him to use a special glass mixture to give the sparkle he was after. Even so, the art was a hit and remains popular to this day and is widely available as Andy Warhol posters.

Andy Warhol Art
In his book, The Philosophy of Andy Warhol, he presents his ideas on the nature of art: "Making money is art, and working is art and good business is the best art." That quote, in my opinion is very telling of his work. The best example I can give is the story about the shoe artwork he created as prints. After making a run of prints he would count the output and then proudly compute its value in dollars. Art was his business and he treated it like a job: “Business art is the step that comes after Art. I started as a commercial artist, and I want to finish as a business artist.” And he also said of his work:” I do the same thing everyday. I go to work and paint. I try to turn out as many pictures as I can.”

Most artists, even today, do not accept Warhol’s notion of “business art” instead believing that art dealers and their business community are separate from the creative side of art. Many artists have told me on several occasions, that Thomas Kinkade is not really an artist or has “sold out” as an artist in order to achieve commercial success. Kinkade’s extensive network of exclusive galleries, dealers and an efficient marketing machine are more developed than Warhol’s Factory which was really more on the production side of art. There is no question though, Warhol sold and produced a lot of art, as does Kinkade. Perhaps there is room for a Andy Warhol Biography with more detailed information on the financial aspects of his career.

Andy Warhol Quotes
“Everyone will be famous for 15 minutes.” Is probably his most famous quotation and I find it has morphed over the years to “fifteen minutes of fame” meaning the same thing.: his idea of short-term, disposable celebrity pop artists.

Andy was highly quotable so he even had a quote about that: “Don't pay any attention to what they write about you. Just measure it in inches.” My favorite quote by him is “It's the movies that have really been running things in America ever since they were invented. They show you what to do, how to do it, when to do it, how to feel about it, and how to look how you feel about it.”

One of my favorite Andy Warhol biography books is called Prince of Pop by Jan Greenberg and Sandra Jordan. It is well written and researched and I found it easy and fun to read.

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You Are So Little, c.1958
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Other Andy Warhol Biography Pages of Interest

More Information for the Andy Warhol Biography
This Bio tells of his mother's influence, friendship with Truman Capote, the Pop Art movement, and the Andy Warhol death.

Andy Warhol Art
The best Andy Warhol Art was provocative when new and the Campbell's Soup Cans and Brillo Boxes are still iconic today.

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

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 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's Tomato Soup.

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

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 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.

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


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