Andy Warhol

Andy Warhol was a revered and iconic artist of the 20th century whose work sparked an artistic revolution in America and ushered in the era of Pop Art. A purely eccentric and modern genius, he led a life that was just as colourful as his silkscreen Marilyn Monroe prints.

Pop Art Prints: Andy Warhol's Signature Style

Andy Warhol's works explore the relationship between artistic expression, celebrity culture and advertisement that flourished by the 1960s. After a successful career as a commercial illustrator, Warhol began producing modern art that was both controversial in its message and in its technique: prints in large batches. By photographing and reproducing pop culture icons in works with ultra-saturated colours, Andy Warhol shone a spotlight on the hyper-consumerism of American culture. He sought to produce art on a large scale of mass production and for this. His technique was unique in that he found himself at the crossroads of photography and painting. However, his style was completely emerging and never before seen. Pop Art painting is now closely associated with the indelible influence of Warhol's presence.

Marilyn Monroe and Campbell's Soup Cans, Modern Art Icons

When you call Marilyn Monroe your mind's eye, you probably see her face plastered in across four neon quadrants, soaked in bright, almost disconcerting neon shades. This, is thanks to Andy Warhol. A star of the silver screen, she was the face of Hollywood glamour. Warhol used Marilyn Monroe's photo from a 1950's publicity ad and reproduced it over 50 times in different shades and colors. Warhol created his Marilyn series a month after her untimely death. The price of these prints soared, they were a total and instant success.

Similarly, Andy Warhol created Campbell’s Soup Cans in 1962, a piece that was exhibited at the Ferus Gallery in New York. He presented 32 posters as genuine works of art. Pop Art having not yet been recognised as an art movement in America, this was a historic and bold move by Warhol that ultimately paid off, mostly thanks to its shock factor. The price of one of these soup posters was first sold for a few thousand. The over the next decades, the price rose into the millions, where it has stayed ever since.

There are many other famous brands and mundane everyday objects that benefitted from "free" publicity thanks to Warhol's creations. There is of course, his most famous Mao print. But beyond that, his obsession with bananas became so well-known that aside from his actual cursive signature, a black-outlined banana became a placeholder for his signature. Logos from brands such as Chanel, Apple, Coca-Cola and Paramount found their way into Warhol's commercially-drenched oeuvre.

Flowers: Andy Warhol's Lesser-Known Masterpiece

A true artist of his time, Andy Warhol knew how to capitalize on current events and incorporate them into his work so as to reach the largest audience as possible. Following Kennedy's assassination, Warhol produced his Flowers screen prints. Blooming into being to mark the death of a president that gripped the nation, these screen prints are bold, per his signature style, but also pure and simple. These flower print works went on to inspire other great contemporary artists such as Damien Hirst, who also launched his own series of flower and floral prints. There are in fact, so many similarities between these two artists that the Albertina Museum in Austria curated a 2023 exhibition entitled Andy Warhol to Damien Hirst: The Revolution in Printmaking. In the same museum, you can view two of the greatest artists whose unabashed approach to the sale and commercialisation of art prints carved them out as key figures in modern and contemporary art.

Cats Named Sam: Artwork Preceding the Fame

Prior to his launch into stardom, Andy Warhol lived with his mother and together, they had 25 cats. All of these cats were named "Sam", except for one, who was blue. Warhol made prints of most of these cats and then published them as a 16-page children's book called, "Cats Named Sam and One Blue Pussy". Despite it being early on in his career, one can now see in these prints, the love of colour-blocking and bold shapes that is now the thread that sews together Warhol's print work over the decades. These cat lithograph prints can still be bought and sold at reasonable prices. To buy Andy Warhol's cat prints, visit the Cat Art Collection on Rise Art.

From "The Factory" to Museums

Andy Warhol worked from his massive New York studio, which he nicknamed “The Factory”. Seeing himself as quote, a machine, he used serigraphy, a technique borrowed from the advertising world to recreate an industrial motif that is repeated in successive patterns. This is why we find the same photo in print, over the same medium. When not tending to his many cats who were all named Sam, in The Factory, Andy Warhol held many parties that welcomed celebrities from near and far. Characters such as Jean-Michel Basquiat, Betsey Johnson, Liza Minnelli, Lou Reed, and Keith Richards all passed through the doors. The Factory was both a place of artistic creation and eccentric celebration.

The masterpieces that were created in The Factory have now found their way to public and private collections alike. Exhibited in the most prestigious cultural institutions and museums, Andy Warhol's paintings and silkscreen prints that were meant to be kitsch and commercial have become timeless. At the Andy Warhol Museum in his native city of Pittsburgh, PA, you can view an extensive permanent collection of art and archives. It is the largest museum in the United States dedicated to a single artist.

Invest in Andy Warhol Prints for Sale

Warhol's work fetches staggering prices in major auctions houses across the globe. Accumulating a combined 20% growth rate over the past five years, the acquisition and resale Andy Warhol's pieces has proven to be a lucrative practice for those seeking to invest in assets that will only gain value over time. While the sale of his original signed prints remains affordable and accessible to both novice and experienced collectors alike, his larger works go under the hammer at exorbitant prices. For example, in May 2022 the piece entitled Shot Sage Blue Marilyn (1964), was auctioned off for a stunning $195 million USD -- an undeniably excessive price that proves the steady, if not increasing, collector interest in Warhol's art that has been accruing over the past five decades and no end point is within view.

View and Buy Original Works by Andy Warhol

On Rise Art, you can discover an exceptional collection of limited edition prints by Andy Warhol. Browse his colorful portraits, including that of Marilyn Monroe, many different cats named Sam and continue your exploration with original animal prints or pop art sculptures.