Campbell’s Soup Cans I: Black Bean 44

Catalog Title: Campbell’s Soup Cans I: Black Bean (FS II.44)

Year: 1968

Size: 35" x 23" | 88.9 x 58.4 cm.

Medium: Screenprint on paper

Edition: Edition of 250 signed in ball-point pen and numbered with a rubber stamp on verso. There are 26 AP signed and lettered A - Z in ball-point pen on verso.

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Campbell’s Soup Cans I: Black Bean 44 by Andy Warhol is a print from the artist’s Campbell’s Soup Cans I portfolio made in 1968. The can shows the classic red and white label with a gold medallion and “BLACK BEAN” set in bold red type. The prints are absolute in their color, symmetry, and simplicity. Campbell’s Soup Cans I: Black Bean 44 is part of Warhol’s first of two Campbell’s Soup Can print series, each containing ten images of different flavors. His second soup portfolio, Campbell’s Soup Cans II, included similar images, but with added illustrations for each flavor. Both series are amongst his most valuable portfolios of all time. As in some of his earliest works, the soup can concept was vital in the popularization of Pop Art.

From Hand-Painting to Screenprinting

In addition to being the most famous soup cans in the world, their simple design greatly fascinated Warhol. As a Pop artist, he became known for elevating familiar logos, objects, and faces to iconic status. In particular, Andy loved the Campbell’s Soup logo. Its design stayed the same for years and remained very successful. Therefore, the soup cans were some of the first objects to undergo the Warhol treatment. Andy became heavily inspired by mundane items because they play a huge role in our lives, but are often overlooked. As a popular grocery store item, the soup is surely familiar to us all.

Warhol’s First Soup Cans: Debut and Critical Reaction

When Warhol’s first rendition of the soup cans—the 32 Campbell’s Soup Cans paintings—debuted in 1962, they made a big buzz in the art world. Abstract Expressionism was the dominant art style of the time, and many artists took offense to his commercially inspired 1:1 reproductions. Such a cold, hard style directly opposed the mantra of abstract art. Traditionally, mainstream art sought to transfer emotion and the artist’s internal world onto the canvas. Nobody had ever seen anything like the soup cans—not in an art gallery, that is.

Pop Art and Consumer Culture

For Warhol, expressionist aesthetics were overdone, and contemporary artists ignored the ubiquitous inventions of modernity. Warhol felt the simple creations of the modern age were full of splendor. He also had a very positive view of consumer culture and capitalism. Indeed, he loved money above all else, and doubtlessly painted the soup cans partly due to their financial success. He also claimed to have eaten the soup almost every day for 20 years.

Similar to works like Chanel and Life Savers, Campbell’s Soup Cans I: Black Bean 44 can be seen as a profound commentary on the status quo of art in the 1960s. By painting common objects such as these, Warhol holds a mirror to consumers and citizens everywhere. Moreover, they are a quintessential index of Warhol’s style and his philosophy concerning consumer culture. Andy noticed something holy in the average objects of consumption—something sacred in the mundane. Because of this, he was able to shift popular ideas of what “counts” as art and inspire future generations of avant-garde artists. This humble soup can surprised the entire world and helped ignite a new art movement that would remain in the history books forever.