Andrew Warhola, or better known as Andy Warhol, was born on August 28, 1926 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. As a child, Warhola suffered from Sydenham Chorea, a rare neurological disorder that was characterized by involuntary movements. The young child would have to stay home from school due to the disorder, reading comic books,and Hollywood magazines as a way to escape; this imagery will help inspire Warhol's future artworks. Warhola would attend free art classes at the Carnegie Institute (now Carnegie Museum of Art) before he attended Schenley High School. His father, Andrej Warhola, managed to save enough money to send Warhol to Carnegie Institute of Technology (now Carnegie Mellon University) from 1945-1949, where earned a degree in Pictorial Design. 

​

After graduating from University, Warhola dropped the "a" in Warhola to become Andy Warhol.  He moved to New York to pursue a career as a commercial artist. His first work released in a 1949 issue of Glamour Magazine for illustrating a story called "What Is Success?" He became an award-winning illustrator through the 1950s with some of Warhol's clients include Tiffany& Co., I. Miller Shoes, Fleming-Joffe, Bonwit-Teller, Columbia Records and Vogue. He would go on to publish artist's books during the 1950s, including one with his mother. 

​

In the 1960s, Warhol turned his attention to the pop-art movement taking over the United States, which originated from Great Britain back in the mid 1950s. In 1961, Warhol released his first pop-art pieces Coca Cola [2]. These art pieces would indicate that Warhol's signature bright colors and silkscreen pieces were not in his first art pieces, which Warhol will begin to incorporate starting in 1962. Warhol's first silk-screen painting was a picture of Marilyn Monroe during her press tour for her 1953 movie Niagara. 

​

In 1962, Warhol began to incorporate famous celebrities into his signature silk-screen paintings such as Marilyn Monroe, Elvis Presley, and Elizabeth Taylor. Warhol would then go on to expand his creativity, such as the creation of his Death and Disaster series that helped create some of his short films like Empire (1964) and The Chelsea Girls. Warhol began creating box sculptures in 1963 and created hundreds of replicas of supermarket product boxes, such as Brillo Boxes. 

​

Warhol would go into performance arts and would collaborate with other artists throughout his entire career. He remains to be one of the most influential figures in contemporary art art and culture. 

 

 

​

 

 

 

 

 

 

​

 

Marilyn Diptych-1962 

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

 

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

                                                                 Brillo Soap Pads Boxes-1964

​

​

​

​

​

​

​