MoMA NYC Displays Warhol Soup Cans As It Was 53 Years Ago

moma nyc soup can

Museum of Modern Art, New York drew a crowd on April 25 as its new exhibition, Andy Warhol: Campbell’s Soup Cans and Other Works, features some of Andy Warhol’s most iconic art works from 1953 to 1967.

Supported by the MoMa Annual Exhibition Fund, the museum showcases 32 Campbell’s Soup Can canvases in a single line instead of a grid, just as it was first displayed at LA’s Fergus Gallery in 1962. The frames and Perspex surrounding each piece has been removed to allow visitors a closer look.

When Andy Warhol first exhibited his Campbell’s Soup Cans in 1962, art critics mocked his work and labeled it as indifferent. It wasn’t until Warhol’s gallerist, Irving Blum, sold five of his paintings before realizing that the series functioned best as a single work of art. He bought back the works and exhibited them as a statement on lengthy shelves at Ferus Gallery that same year.

Warhol realized the possibility of creating works in series and the visual effects of serial imagery. His variations on soup cans amplified the effect of stacked products in a grocery store. He also realized the serial repetition of an image removed its meaning, a phenomenon later presented in his Disaster series.

The Campbell’s Soup Can series is a signature image of Andy Warhol’s career and is a landmark in MoMA’s collection. It was created during the year that pop art emerged as a major new artistic movement, and it has a lasting impact on the history of art and society.

The exhibition is on view from April 25 to October 12, 2015.

Visit MoMA NYC for more information.

Museum of Modern Art, New York
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