Andy Warhol was a leading figure in the Pop Art movement. Like his contemporary Roy Lichtenstein, Warhol responded to mass-media culture of the 1960s. His silkscreens of cultural and consumer icons including Marilyn Monroe, Elizabeth Taylor and Campbell’s Soup Cans would make him one of the most famous artists of his generation.

“Don't think about making art, just get it done. Let everyone else decide if it's good or bad, whether they love it or hate it. While they are deciding, make even more art.”

Born Andrew Warhola in 1928 in Pittsburgh, he graduated from the Carnegie Institute of Technology in 1948. Moving to New York City to pursue a career in commercial illustration, the young artist worked for fashion magazines such as Vogue and Glamour. Though Warhol was a gay man, he kept much of his private life secret, occasionally referencing his sexuality through art. This is perhaps most evident in his drawings of male nudes from the 1950s.

In 1964, Warhol rented a studio loft in midtown Manhattan which was later known as The Factory. The artist used The Factory as a hub for movie stars, models, and artists who became fodder for his prints and films. The space also functioned as a performance venue for The Velvet Underground.

During the 1980s, Warhol collaborated with younger artists, including Jean-Michel Basquiatand Keith Haring. In 1987 the artist died tragically following complications from routine surgery at the age of 58. After his death, the artist’s estate became The Andy Warhol Foundation and in 1994 a museum dedicated to the artist and his oeuvre opened in his native Pittsburgh.

Today, his works are held in the collections of the Museum of Modern Art and the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York, the Art Institute of Chicago, and the Tate Gallery in London, among others.