Time Machine
Andy Up-Close
Andy Warhol was the defining artist of the 20th century. His near-obsessive interest in celebrity, death and the everyday was reflected in political events that occurred through his life time. This timeline shows Warhol as both a pioneering artist and an important social commentator, from his early commercial advertising to his last series of self-portraits.
1928 Andy Warhola is born
1949
Andy Warohla
to Andy Warhol
Andy Warhol graduates from Carnegie Institute of Technology (now Carnegie Mellon University) and moves to New York City changing his name from Andy Warhola, to Andy Warhol.
Working as a commercial artist for magazines including Vogue, Harper's Bazaar and The New Yorker, his first assignment for Glamour Magazine was 'Success is a job in New York.'
Color TV introduced
1952
Warhol has first exhibition
of 15 drawings based on
the writings of Truman Capote
at New York's Hugo Gallery
Andy Warhol's mother moves in with him
Julia Warhola follows Andy to New York, for the next 20 years they
will live together, along with numerous cats.
Joseph Stalin dies
4'33", John Cage film
David Tudor performing
John Cage's 4'33"
25 Cats Name [sic] Sam and One Blue Pussy
Together with Charles Lisanby who writes the text
Warhol produces the book '25 Cats Name[d] Sam and
One Blue Pussy'
'Sam, from 25 Cats Name[d] Sam and One Blue Pussy
(F. & S. IV.66A or B)
Offset lithograph with hand-coloring, 1954, on
laid paper, from the edition of 190, published
by the artist with lettering by Julia Warhola.
Price realized $5,625, Christie's New York, 2007
Rosa Parks refuses to give up her seat on a bus
McDonald's corporation founded
Disneyland opens
Richard Hamilton, Just what is it that makes today’s
homes so different, so appealing?
In Britain the Pop Art movement is beginning
with Richard Hamilton’s collage Just what
is it that makes today’s homes so different,
so appealing?
Jackson Pollock dies
in a car crash
1957
On the Road by Jack Kerouac
is published
Soviet satellite Sputnik
launches Space Age
Before and After
Andy Warhol has plastic surgery.
Before and After,1961
Casein and pencil on canvas
Nikita Khrushchev becomes
Premier of the Soviet Union
Pop Art
The term 'Pop Art' is coined
by Lawrence Alloway.
Jasper Johns, Light Bulb
In 1961 Andy Warhol would buy this
picture for $450. He paid in installments.
Jasper Johns
Sketch for Light Bulb, 1958
brush, graphite wash and pencil on paper
Price realized $200,500
Christie's New York, 1998
Guggenheim opens in Manhattan
Fidel Castro becomes Premier of Cuba
Warhol In
The 1960s
JFK elected President of
the United States
Berlin Wall is built
Soviets launch first man into
space, Yuri Gagarin
Warhol begins work on Campbell's
Soup Can series
Having seen Lichtenstein’s very
similar work at the Castelli Gallery
Warhol abandons the idea of painting
comic strips. He asks his friend
Muriel Latow what he should paint,
who tells him ‘to paint pictures
of money…either that or…something
you see every day that everyone
would recognize. Something like a
can of soup’.
Campbell's Soup Can
(Pepper Pot), 1961
casein and pencil on linen
Price realized $1,109,500
Christie's New York 2002
Andy Warhol, Advertisement
Andy Warhol exhibits five large paintings
in the window of Bonwit Teller, a New York
department store where he had been working
for some time producing window displays.
Andy Warhol, Dr. Scholl's Corns
Dr. Scholl's Corns, 1961
Casein and wax crayon on canvas
Andy Warhol, A Boy for Meg
A Boy for Meg, 1962
soil on canvas
Copyright © 2012 National Gallery
of Art, Washington, DC
1962
Cuban missile crisis
Warhol has a show at Irving
Blum's Ferus Gallery
Warhol has a show at Irving Blum's
Ferus Gallery on La Cienega Boulevard
Fin West Hollywood. It features his
series of 32 different canvases of
FCampbell's soup cans..
Warhol produces his first silkscreens
Warhol produces his first silkscreens - of Troy Donahue,
followed by Marilyn Monroe, Elvis Presley, Elizabeth
Taylor, Marlon Brando and the Mona Lisa.
Marilyn Monroe's Lips, 1962
synthetic polymer and silkscreen inks on canvas
© 2012 The Andy Warhol Foundtion for the Visual Arts Inc.
/Artists Right Society(ARS), New York
Orange Marilyn, 1962
synthetic polymer and silkscreen inks on canvas
Price realized $3,746,000 Christie's New York, 2001
Marilyn Monroe dies
Marilyn Monroe is found dead. Some weeks later Warhol makes the silk screen print Suicide marking the beginning of the Death and Disaster series.
Suicide (One Woman's Suicide)
Suicide (One Woman's Suicide), 1963
acrylic and silkscreen inks on paper
Price realized £135,750
Christie's King Street, 2001
Warhol paints race riots
Race Riot, 1963
synthetic polymer and silkscreen
inks on paper
Orange Car Crash (Orange Disaster)
(5 Death 11 Times in Orange), 1963
Orange Car Crash (Orange Disaster)
(5 Death 11 Times in Orange) , 1963
silkscreen on acrylic on canvas
JFK assassinated
JFK assassinated
President John F. Kennedy (1917-63)
from Flash - November 22, 1963
screenprint on paper
Martin Luther King Jr. makes
his ‘I Have a Dream’ speech
Warhol starts Jackie series
Jackie, 1964
synthetic polymer and silkscreen ink on canvas
Brillo Boxes
Warhol establishes his studio at 231 East 47th Street,
soon to be known as ‘The Factory’.
1964
Cuban missile crisis
Andy Warhol joins the Leo Castelli gallery
Cassius Clay (a.k.a. Muhammad Ali)
becomes World Heavyweight Champio
Andy Warhol, Ambulance Disaster
Ambulance Disaster, 1963
Silkscreen ink on paper
Price Realized $1,022,500
Christies New York 2011
Andy Warhol meets Edie Sedgwick
Andy Warhol meets Edie Sedgwick
Burt Glinn
Andy Warhol, Edie Sedgwick and Chuck Wein, 1965
Price realized £3,500 Christie's King Street, 2012
1965
Malcolm X assassinated,
Winston Churchill dies
Soup Cans
A second series of cans is produced
comprised of nineteen different
colored cans.
Campbell’s Soup, 1965
acrylic on canvas
© 2008 The Andy Warhol Foundation for
the Visual Arts, Inc. / Artists Rights
Society (ARS), New York
Bob Dylan tries electric
at Newport festival
The Velvet Underground and Nico
LP is released
The cover, designed by Warhol,
showed a banana with vinyl skin
that could be peeled off to
expose the pink fruit. A larger
fine art print is also produced.
The Velvet Underground and Nico and The Chelsea Girls
Warhol makes the films The Velvet Underground and Nico and
The Chelsea Girls, which are distributed widely and receive
international media attention.
Black Panther party is established
Silver Clouds at Leo Castelli Gallery
Warhol exhibits Silver Cloud at the Leo Castelli gallery.
Mao Zedong launches the Cultural Revolution
Mao (F. & S. II.94) , 1972
screenprint in colours
Price realized £39,650 , Christie's King Street 2012
Self-Portrait series
Self-Portrait, 1967
screenprint
Che Guevara killed
Valerie Solanas shoots Warhol in The Factory
Valerie Solanas shoots Warhol in The Factory.
He is pronounced clinically dead, but survives,
and leaves hospital eight weeks later
Richard Avedon
Andy Warhol, Artist, New York City, August 20, 1969
Gelatin silver print
Nixon is elected president
Nixon is elected president of the United States
Conflicts between students and authorities
at the University of Paris
"In the future,
everyone will be
world-famous for
15 minutes."
15 Minute of fame
Martin Luther King Jr. is assassinated
Woodstock
Rock and Roll concert
at Woodstock
The first issue of Interview magazine is published
The first issue of Interview magazine is published
A group of three 'Interview' magazines, December 1980,
featuring Diana Vreeland
Warhol In
The 1970s
1970 Beatles break up
US invades Cambodia
Warhol’s play, Pork, opens in London
Warhol portraits
Warhol's portrait commissions business flourishes.
A portrait costs $25,000.
Hélène Rochas, 1974
acrylique et encre sérigraphique sur toile
Price Realized €181,000 , Christie's Paris, 2012
Wallpaper
Richard Pettibone (b. 1938)
Untitled (Andy Warhol's Cow Wallpaper)
Sticky Fingers
Warhol designs the album cover of
the Rolling Stones’ Sticky Fingers LP
in collaboration with Craig Braun.
The cover, a male torso in jeans with
a functioning zipper, was nominated
for a Grammy Award.
1972
Warhol's mother dies
1972
Terrorists attack at
the Olympic Games in Munich
Watergate scandal begins
Warhol appears in the film The Driver’s
Seat with Elizabeth Taylor
Time Capsules
Begins assembling Time Capsules in standard-sized
boxes. This collection of objects and ephemera
from his entire life eventually numbered more
than 600 boxes, and included antiques and works
of art.
1973
US pulls out of Vietnam
President Nixon resigns
Self-portrait with skull series
Skulls (F. & S. II.157-58, 160), 1976
Three screenprints in colors
Price realized $14,400 Christie's
New York, 2005
Studio 54
Warhol begins to frequent the nightclub
Studio 54 with friends Halston, Bianca
Jagger, and Liza Minnelli
Elvis found dead
Star Wars
Star Wars movie released
Warhol portraits
Warhol's portrait commissions business flourishes.
A portrait costs $25,000.
Hélène Rochas, 1974
acrylique et encre sérigraphique sur toile
Price Realized €181,000 , Christie's Paris, 2012
Warhol portraits
Warhol's portrait commissions business flourishes.
A portrait costs $25,000.
Hélène Rochas, 1974
acrylique et encre sérigraphique sur toile
Price Realized €181,000 , Christie's Paris, 2012
Margaret Thatcher becomes
first female Prime Minister
of Britain
Warhol In
The 1980s
1980
Ronal Regan Elected
John Lennon assassinated
John Lennon, 1985 – 1986
synthetic polymer and silkscreen ink on canvas
Price realized £1,364,000 Christie's King Street 2007
1981
HIV virus identified
1981
MTV (Music Television) is launched
on cable television in the United States
Prince Charles marries Diana
Michael Jackson releases Thriller
Michael Jackson, 1984
synthetic polymer and silkscreen ink on canvas
Price realized $812,500 Christie's New York, 2009
Japanese television commercial for TDK
Warhol appears in a Japanese television commercial for TDK
Rorschach series
Rorschach , 1984
silkscreen ink on canvas
Price realized $2,770,500
Christie's New York, 2012
Mikhail Gorbachev becomes
General Secretary of
the Soviet Communist Party
Absolut Vodka
Absolut Vodka, 1985
ink on paper
Price realized $72,000
Christie's New York, 2007
Camouflage series
Camouflage, 1986
synthetic polymer and silkscreen
inks on canvas
Price realized £94,650
Christie's King Street 2003
Camouflage series
Camouflage, 1986
synthetic polymer and silkscreen
inks on canvas
Price realized £94,650
Christie's King Street 2003
Chernobyl nuclear accident
Cars, commissioned by Mercedes Benz
Cars silkscreens, commissioned by Mercedes Benz
Mercedes-Benz 300 SL Coupé, 1954 , 1986
synthetic polymer and silkscreen ink on canvas
Price realized $2,505,000 Christie's New York, 2007
During a visit to Berlin, Germany, U.S. President
Ronald Reagan challenges Soviet Premier
Mikhail Gorbachev to tear down the Berlin Wall
Thomas Knoll and John Knoll develop
the first version of Photoshop
Thomas Knoll and John Knoll develop
the first version of Photoshop
1987
The Andy Warhol Foundation for
the Visual Arts is established
WARHOL DIES
Warhol is in severe pain because of an enlarged gall bladder.
He delays going into hospital, but eventually has no choice but
to have an operation. On February 22, Warhol has a heart attack
after undergoing a routine gallbladder operation and is pronounced
dead. His funeral is held on 1 April at St Patrick's cathedral,
Madison Avenue. Warhol's estate is valued at $510,000,000.