An artist is somebody who produces things that people don't need to have.
— Andy Warhol, Thirty Are Better Than One
Andy Warhol, born Andrew Warhola Jr., was an American artist and filmmaker widely regarded as the most important artist of the second half of the 20th century. His practice spanned painting, filmmaking, photography, publishing and performance art. A leading figure of the pop art movement, he explored the relationship between advertising, consumerism, mass media and celebrity culture.
His embrace of mechanical reproduction challenged traditional boundaries between high and low culture, and he is credited with popularizing the expression "15 minutes of fame." Born to working-class Rusyn immigrant parents in Pittsburgh, he began his career as a commercial artist in New York before moving into fine art. His best-known early silkscreen paintings include Campbell's Soup Can and Marilyn Diptych. The Philosophy of Andy Warhol is his most quoted work in our library.
His embrace of mechanical reproduction challenged traditional boundaries between high and low culture, and he is credited with popularizing the expression "15 minutes of fame." Born to working-class Rusyn immigrant parents in Pittsburgh, he began his career as a commercial artist in New York before moving into fine art. His best-known early silkscreen paintings include Campbell's Soup Can and Marilyn Diptych. The Philosophy of Andy Warhol is his most quoted work in our library.
Most quoted works
- The Philosophy of Andy Warhol 5
They always say time changes things, but you actually have to change them yourself.
— The Philosophy of Andy Warhol
Romance is finding your fantasy in people who don't have it.
— The Philosophy of Andy Warhol
The child-like, gum-chewing naïveté, the glamour rooted in despair, the self admiring carelessness, the perfected otherness, the wispiness, the shadowy, voyeuristic, vaguely sinister aura, the pale, soft-spoken magical presence, the skin and bones…
— The Philosophy of Andy Warhol
I always notice flowers.
— Andy Warhol's Party Book
It does not matter how slowly you go so long as you do not stop.
Sex is more exciting on the screen and between the pages than between the sheets
I'm bored with that line. I never use it anymore. My new line is "In 15 minutes everybody will be famous.
Just because people throw it out and don't have any use for it, doesn't mean it's garbage.
When people are ready to, they change. They never do it before then, and sometimes they die before they get around to it. You can't make them change if they don't want to, just like when they do want to, you can't stop them.
— Andy Warhol in His Own Words