If Andy Warhol was anything, he was the master of Pop Art, making iconic artworks that became recognizable and relatable to all. Warhol made a global impact by transforming notable figures and images into deities of culture with his signature style and mysterious allure.
Warhol popularized a new approach to art-making by taking advantage of technological advancements from the latter half of the 20th century. These advancements included print-making methods used to mass-produce images and graphics for advertising and commerce. These practices enabled Warhol to produce artwork in large quantities and at a fast pace, inspiring the name of his studio, “The Factory.” Printmaking became a huge focus of Warhol’s career, creating large editions of prints organized into “portfolios.”
However, Warhol continued to create paintings, too, and he used some of the same screenprinting methods to do so, often adding media like acrylic paint. The main difference between Warhol’s “prints” and “paintings” is that, 1) his paintings are printed on canvas, 2) they are often far larger or smaller than his prints, and 3) they are considered unique artworks, separate from an edition. In the art world, these pieces of Warhol’s oeuvre are often referred to as “works on canvas,” or sometimes “originals.”
Warhol has created a vast number of paintings, depicting figures like Marilyn Monroe and Chairman Mao, and images like the humble Campbell’s Soup Cans. But what are Warhol’s most significant works? In this article, we’ll learn all about Andy Warhol’s top 10 paintings.
1. 32 Campbell’s Soups
Andy Warhol’s 1962 masterwork, 32 Campbell’s Soup Cans, jumpstarted his prolific career. Actually, this piece is not just 1 painting, but a singular work composed of 32 paintings of Campbell’s soup cans in different flavors, resembling a grocery store aisle.
Warhol’s near carbon-copy depictions of the soups were cutting-edge, modeling the pervasive presence of advertising in the booming postwar economy. In 32 Campbell’s Soup Cans, Warhol’s dedication to highlighting the ubiquitous nature of product placement, commerce, and the familiarity of repeating images is tangible.
These infamous soups were the stars of Warhol’s first show in Los Angeles, which took place at Ferus Gallery. The series was not particularly popular at the time, with only five paintings sold. Irving Blum bought the set for $1,000 over 10 months under the agreement that all 32 would stay together.
Having once asserted that he ate Campbell’s Tomato Soup every day for 20 years, this series is infused with a soft irony and nostalgia associated with familiar comfort foods and packaging. The series is rendered with a tender hand to stay true to Campbell’s blueprint, with human inconsistencies noticeable up close like trace marks that remind us that Warhol was not, in fact, the machine he wished to become (at least not yet).
In 1996, New York’s Museum of Modern Art received the full set for $15 million in a mixed donation and sale.
2. Shot Sage Blue Marilyn
In May 2022, Shot Sage Blue Marilyn sold for $195 million at auction, breaking the record for the most expensive 20th-century artwork ever sold. It took less than four minutes for the hammer to drop at the lofty price, selling to an unknown buyer.
Why “Shot?” Well, this 1964 silkscreen painting has a strange history.
This Marilyn was one variation of five colorful silkscreens (Red, Orange, Light Blue, Sage, and Turquoise). One day, Warhol’s friend Billy Name and performing artist Dorothy Podber visited the Silver Factory, and Podber shot a hole through a stack of paintings.
Every Marilyn except Turquoise was wounded and needed repair, resulting in a new group of four: The Shot Marilyns. Although the incident ultimately brought more notoriety and value to the works, Warhol promptly prohibited Podber from the premises of The Factory for life.
Modeled after a publicity shot taken by Gene Korman for the starlet’s 1953 film Niagara, Warhol’s Marilyn works are among his most coveted and recognizable. Shot Sage Blue Marilyn is a particularly eye-catching piece, coated in electric colors that emphasize her characteristic blonde hair and prop her lovely face against the blue in a bubblegum pink hue.
The popularity of Warhol’s Marilyn artworks helped define Pop Art, partly due to the subject herself, and Warhol understood that well. Marilyn Monroe epitomized fame, adored for her talent and beauty. Warhol’s depiction of her compounded the visibility of the works, equating Monroe’s image to a commodity that was replicated, distributed, and consumed worldwide.
Shot Sage Blue Marilyn emphasizes Monroe’s public image and comments on the erasure of personal identity in society’s eyes. The work immortalizes her in an electric facade, reflecting the romanticized fashion through which society imagined her. Monroe’s death in August of 1962 further inspired Warhol to encapsulate her image.
3. Gold Marilyn
Before Shot Blue Sage Marilyn, there was Gold Marilyn.
Created in 1962, the year of Monroe’s tragic death, Warhol used the same publicity photo for this silkscreen painting. Yet, by placing the star amidst a sea of gold, this variation adds even more to the meaning of the artwork.
Having been raised in a devout Catholic home, Warhol understood the weight of religious iconography. In Gold Marilyn, Warhol likens Monroe to a saint and imbues the work with celestial radiance, but also a solemnity that is amplified by the knowledge of Monroe’s passing just days before.
In painting Monroe as a religious icon, Warhol suggests that society had raised her to a deified status by way of obsession and envy, and by consuming her image via mass media. As a spectacle, Monroe’s life was defined by the “ingenue” trope, but behind the scenes, she was a woman abused by the greed of Hollywood and exploited by the same masses that elevated her to celebrity.
The golden sheen surrounding Monroe is fitting for Hollywood’s “Golden Girl.”At the same time, it offers a striking juxtaposition that places her inner life at odds with the optics of glamour that surrounded her. The metallic glint also serves as a reflection of the wealth that Monroe created, especially the wealth that Hollywood was able to generate by commodifying her image in a thriving capitalist, post-war setting. The idealism through which the economy is fantasized in movies by way of shopping-spree montages and celebrities on red carpets is a glamour that conceals the inner struggles of a life cloaked in fame. Stars like Marilyn become high-ticket commodities and can become disposable just as quickly as they rose to fame. This pressure often wreaks havoc on their mental health.
4. Mao
Warhol created the Mao artworks between 1972 and 1973, spurred by then-President Nixon’s trip to China to meet with Chairman Mao Zedong. Warhol used an iconic portrait of Mao from the leader’s Little Red Book, filled with ideas and quotes to instill Maoist values in the people of China.
The many Mao artworks that Warhol created commemorate a historic shift in politics and exemplify the artist’s use of repetition to mimic the widespread syndication of Mao’s image in China. Depicting the leader of the People’s Republic of China in such abundant numbers highlights the omnipresence of political leaders and their influence. Specifically, Warhol’s makeover seems to disenchant the ruler’s untouchable image, undercutting Mao’s desire to evoke loyalty and revolutionary attitudes in his subjects.
Warhol flirts with controversy by depicting the Communist ruler, despite his self-identification as politically removed. The Mao portraits create an ironic allure. In 2012, Beijing authorities prohibited The Andy Warhol Museum from showing the portraits in China because the flamboyant colors resembled “makeup.”
In the Mao collection, Warhol depicts a high political position as a form of celebrity. Similar to Marilyn, he frames Mao as a “superstar,” infused with the personality of Pop Art. Mao’s image was no longer invincible, and Warhol’s controversial recreation invited a critical gaze.
5. Silver Car Crash (Double Disaster)
“When you see a gruesome picture over and over again, it really doesn’t have any effect.”
Warhol said this in 1963, pondering the exponential growth of violence in media dissemination, and the quote remains relevant today.. Silver Car Crash is a gargantuan, breathtaking silkscreen that hails from Warhol’s larger Death and Disaster series, which focuses in no uncertain terms on the ugly parts of life and death.
Much of Warhol’s oeuvre focuses on images that are popular among the public, and Silver Car Crash is no different. Because of the acceleration of media use in the 1960s, many violent or macabre images became just as familiar to the public as celebrities and advertisements. To create paintings like Silver Car Crash, Warhol appropriated images from newspapers, magazines, and news clips reporting tragedies like death and catastrophe.
“I realized that everything I must have been doing was Death. It was Christmas or Labor Day– a holiday– and every time you turned on the radio they said something like ‘4 million are going to die.’”
Warhol’s quote demonstrates his sensitivity to the onslaught of information and violence distributed to society by the news cycle. Despite information’s vital role in a democratic society, many choose to disconnect from certain media sources, hoping to abandon the pessimism and depression that can develop from overexposure to “bad news.”
Silver Car Crash offers a chilling juxtaposition in its grand size, silvery quality, and the repetition of such a macabre scene. Warhol invites us to consider how attraction and horror are often simultaneous, allowing us to confront our desensitization to suffering. This unsettling blend of allure and repulsion runs more rampant than ever in an era where graphic imagery and news are immediately accessible, proving that as long as society endures, so too will images like Silver Car Crash.
6. Triple Elvis
Among Warhol’s work on canvas, Triple Elvis is truly “loved tenderly”.
Based on a publicity still for his 1960 film Flaming Star, this painting captures Elvis Presley in action as his character Pacer Burton. The movie follows Burton, a half-white, half-Kiowa man, caught in a battle between white settlers and indigenous peoples after racial tensions peak.
Created in 1963, Triple Elvis follows Warhol’s tradition of celebrity portraiture with one of the most famous and adored celebrities of all time. Much like the Marilyn works, Warhol explores the modern deification of artists and the complicated life cycle of fame. In this portrait, Warhol renders Elvis with a ghost-like quality, a near-prescient depiction of the early death that befell the star in 1977.
The multiplicity of Elvis’s image continues Warhol’s career-long theme of repetition, highlighting his pervasive image and its familiarity to the public. The triplet also echoes Elvis’s abundant career, embodying the “more is better” mentality of American capitalism.
Warhol’s feature of the King of Rock’n’Roll is significant not just for his fame, but also for the Western film still chosen. Warhol’s relationship with Western films dates back to his childhood when Western filmmaking was in full swing. Triple Elvis represents Warhol’s fascination with Hollywood’s portrayal of the American West and the idealism of the frontier.
The painting precedes Warhol’s 1986 Cowboys and Indians portfolio, in which he explores more frontier figures like John Wayne and Sitting Bull.
7. Self Portrait (Fright Wig)
Throughout his career, Warhol’s experimentation with portraiture and photography became the precedent for the modern selfie era. Warhol’s Self-Portrait (Fright Wig) makes his (faux) hair the central focus and highlights our tendency to manipulate our identities to sway others’ perceptions.
This 1986 piece, not unlike Marilyn, Elvis, and his other portraits, further contributes to Warhol’s exploration of celebrity. Warhol confronts the audience with a close and personal glare, portraying a comfort with being seen and an acknowledgment of his status in the public eye.
In Fright Wig, Warhol employs a bold, Pop Art red and high contrast to create an intense, haunting image. Echoing his fascination with mortality, the portrait’s shadowy nature conjures a fleeting presence, reminding viewers of the transient nature of life and the inevitability of death. The significance of this is heightened by Warhol’s passing, which occurred the following year.
Fright Wig’s bold, haunting quality also speaks to Warhol’s enduring presence in the cultural zeitgeist and his artistic legacy. Warhol’s confrontational Fright Wig pose imprints the magnitude of his gaze on his audience and solidifies that his legacy will last forever.
8. Brillo Boxes
As unassuming as they may appear, Brillo Boxes represent Warhol’s cutting irony.
Created in 1964, the design of these boundary-pushing soap boxes is about as original as the Campbell’s Soups label, yet unique in that Warhol was bold enough to copy them to a tee. The quintessential Pop-Art works debuted at the Stable Gallery in New York City but did not sell as Warhol had expected they would.
The Brillo Boxes are representative of his “anything is art” attitude. They also encapsulate his unique ability to infuse commercial and fine art. For Warhol, “fine” art was about presentation and perception, and there was no reason that advertisements, common household objects, and ordinary images couldn’t be elevated to such a status.
Brillo Boxes have since become synonymous with Warhol’s commentary on mass consumption and production. The iconic sculptures are a nostalgic testament to Warhol’s willingness to think outside the box (pun intended).
9. Electric Chair
Warhol’s work isn’t always about bright colors and Pop Art fantasy, and his 1964 Electric Chair brings his dark side to light.
Based on a 1953 newspaper clipping depicting the chair used for the executions of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg for treason at Sing Sing facility in New York, Electric Chair was created shortly after executions by electrocution ceased in New York. Electric Chair is a potent reminder of mortality, government-sanctioned violence, and the proliferation of violence in American media.
A departure from his happy-go-lucky works like Campbell’s Soups and Brillo Boxes, Electric Chair marks the shift in media saturation in the sixties, exposing the masses to increasingly graphic imagery and creating a collective sense of demoralization. Like Silver Car Crash, this macabre piece is an early indication of his decades-long fixation on impermanence, death, and repetitive public imagery.
The 1964 version of Electric Chair is Warhol’s earliest rendition, a work on canvas created with acrylic paint and silkscreen ink. The work presents a room with only a table, the chair, and the words “silence” hanging somberly above a cavernous doorway.
Later, in 1971, Warhol created a print portfolio of the subject, infusing the grim image with more color and variation. Publishing a large edition of the Electric Chair image reflects his tendency to create repetition and emulate the nature of widespread, striking imagery.
10. Flowers
These large silkscreen paintings run the gamut of Warhol’s tools using synthetic polymer and silkscreen inks to create fluorescent Day-Glo colors. The works first appeard in the Leo Castelli Gallery in New York City in 1964.
The Flowers works do not quite embody Warhol’s penchant for branding in the typical sense and instead capture a more romantic, nature-loving side of the artist. However, Warhol’s propensity towards appropriation is still present, as he used a photograph taken by Patricia Caulfiend as the basis for the Flowers works. Her 1964 photographs of Mandrinette hibiscus flowers became the model for Warhol’s silkscreen outline after he found them in an edition of Modern Photography magazine.
In 1966, Caulfield sued Warhol for his utilization of her photo, drawing attention to copyright laws and forcing a shift in Warhol’s way of working. Afterwards, Warhol was forced to become more vigilant. Though he still appropriated all sorts of images, he also started creating his own photographs, which would become vastly important for his career in the 1970s.
Flowers demonstrates Warhol’s ability to put a Pop Art twist on everything, even the natural world. Warhol’s Flowers have since become some of his most lovable images.
In conclusion, so much of Andy Warhol’s career has been defined by great numbers: His method of production, creating large quantities of repetitions, high auction prices, and his massive artistic output. By challenging the status quote of the art world with printmaking, Warhol made art more accessible, and altered common perceptions of what constitutes “high art.” To understand Warhol fully, its essential to study his prints, but one must also travel back in time to explore his unique works on canvas.
Warhol’s top 10 paintings stand out for their controversial themes, detailed execution, and unique insights into the artist’s obsessions and revolutionary perspective. Rediscovering Warhol’s originals allows us to appreciate the distinctive elements that continue to define his impact on art and society, emphasizing their enduring relevance within today’s cultural landscape.
Written by Reagan Carraway.
Edited by Mason Rogers
