Gems Complete Portfolio by Andy Warhol presents four radiant images of rubies, emeralds, and diamonds set against bold fields of color. Each print shows a gemstone isolated on a flat plane, with sharp outlines that highlight its cuts, facets, and reflections. Warhol uses bright reds, deep greens, pale yellows, and shimmering blues to give each stone a striking presence. Moreover, the contrast between the simple backgrounds and the complex shapes creates a crisp, graphic style. Together, the four prints in the Gems Complete Portfolio turn precious stones into vivid Pop icons.
Gems Complete Portfolio and Warhol’s Still Life Practice
The Gems Complete Portfolio includes four screenprints—FS II.186 through FS II.189—each centered on a different stone. The ruby print, FS II.186, uses deep reds and pinks to highlight the gem’s sharp angles. The emerald print relies on rich greens and dark shadows that give the stone a strong, sculptural weight. The diamond prints mix bright highlights with soft pastel tones, creating a sense of sparkle and depth. Across the series, Warhol varies the palette while keeping the same crisp outlines and stylized crosshatching.
Warhol created the Gems Complete Portfolio in 1978, during a period when he was deeply engaged with the still life tradition. At the time, he produced several portfolios that focused on photographed objects. These included Space Fruits (1979), Skulls (1976), and Hammer and Sickle (1977). For these collections, Warhol photographed ordinary or symbolic items, then transformed them into bold screenprints through color, cropping, and repetition. The Gems Complete Portfolio fits squarely within this approach. Warhol treated each gemstone as both an object and a symbol—something that reflects light, holds cultural meaning, and invites visual pleasure.
Also during this period, he often returned to themes of luxury, glamour, and excess. These themes appear throughout other bodies of work such as After the Party (1979), the Shoes series (1980). Furthermore, the focus on beauty and adornment also links the Gems portfolio to later works such as Reigning Queens (1985), where three of the queens appear wearing striking jewelry. In all of these works, Warhol used luxury objects to explore ideas of power, glamour, and identity. The Gems Complete Portfolio therefore stands as an important moment in Warhol’s evolving still life practice—one that blends photography, Pop color, and the visual language of desire.
Warhol’s Personal Fascination with Gems
Although Warhol rarely flaunted jewelry in public, he collected it with great enthusiasm. Friends often recalled that he liked to keep certain pieces hidden under his clothes rather than display them. He owned items from major houses such as Cartier, Tiffany, Bulgari, Elsa Peretti, and Seaman Schepps. “When I am in Rome I always visit Bulgari, because it is the most important museum of contemporary art,” Warhol once said. In the end, his collection remained mostly unknown until the 1988 Sotheby’s sale of his estate, when catalogues revealed how extensive the collection had become.
Among the discoveries was a rare René Boivin “Beribboned Heart” bracelet once owned by Millicent Rogers. Warhol’s diaries also include remarks about his love for jewelry. In one entry, he joked that Bulgari was “the most important museum of contemporary art,” hinting at how deeply he connected beauty, glamour, and design. These details add a personal layer to the Gems Complete Portfolio, showing how the artist saw gemstones not just as luxury objects but as forms of creative inspiration.
Gems Complete Portfolio in Warhol’s Larger Body of Work
The Gems Complete Portfolio shows how Warhol could turn even small, intimate objects into bold Pop images. Each print combines bright color, sharp drawing, and simple composition to highlight the stone’s shape and shine. Collectors value the series for its clean lines, striking palettes, and direct connection to Warhol’s own tastes. Within his late work, the Gems portfolio stands as a lively celebration of glamour and a reminder of Warhol’s fascination with objects that capture light, sparkle, and imagination.
Photo credit: Andy Warhol, Gems, unique gelatin silver prints, c. 1978.
