Biography of Andy Warhol

Any biography of Andy Warhol must pale in comparison to the life lived by the man whose iconic works have earned him a permanent place in art history.

Humble roots

Famed Pop artist Andy Warhol had humble beginnings in a working class Pennsylvania neighborhood. Andy lost his father to a fatal accident when he was just a young teen. He became a student at Pittsburgh's Carnegie Institute and headed to New York upon graduation. He achieved success as a commercial illustrator for publications, including Harper's Bazaar and Vogue.

A pop icon is born

1952 saw the debut of Andy Warhol as an exhibited artist with a one-man show at New York's Hugo Gallery. A few years later, his works went on display at the city's vaunted Museum of Modern Art. During the decade of the 1960s, Warhol produced some of his most famous images of pop culture and consumer icons. His "32 Campbell's Soup Cans" elevated a mundane staple of suburban American cupboards to high art. The "Marilyn Diptych" is the artist's homage to a lost icon, inspired by Monroe's suicide.

The Factory years

In 1962, Warhol started a studio called The Factory, where he and his apprentices mass-produced silkscreen and photo images as well as often bizarre underground films. In 1966, a one-time member of The Factory named Valerie Solanis almost succeeded in assassinating the artist.

An eccentric personality

Known as much for his trademark mop of platinum blonde locks - and later wigs - Warhol pursued a lifelong obsession with celebrity despite his shy nature. He once famously remarked that one day, everyone would enjoy 15 minutes of fame. Warhol himself will be remembered long after his death in 1987, which was caused by post-op complications.

In his art, Andy Warhol managed to marry consumer and pop culture with revolutionary artistic techniques to create images that will live forever.