WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:01.919 Welcome back to the Deep Dive. Our mission, as 00:00:01.919 --> 00:00:04.339 always, is pretty straightforward. We take a 00:00:04.339 --> 00:00:06.599 stack of sources, in this case, a really massive 00:00:06.599 --> 00:00:09.140 detailed biography, and we pull out the essential, 00:00:09.359 --> 00:00:12.699 often contradictory and frankly shocking stuff 00:00:12.699 --> 00:00:15.339 you need to know to understand a cultural giant. 00:00:15.539 --> 00:00:19.960 And today we are decoding Andy Warhol, born Andrew 00:00:19.960 --> 00:00:23.449 Warhol Jr. And he's a figure who is. Well, you 00:00:23.449 --> 00:00:25.449 could say he's indisputably the most important 00:00:25.449 --> 00:00:27.469 American artist of the second half of the 20th 00:00:27.469 --> 00:00:30.050 century. That's a huge claim. It is. But what 00:00:30.050 --> 00:00:32.369 defined his career wasn't just, you know, painting. 00:00:32.469 --> 00:00:35.009 It was a deep exploration, almost a sociological 00:00:35.009 --> 00:00:37.429 experiment on the whole relationship between 00:00:37.429 --> 00:00:41.210 advertising, mass media and our culture of celebrity. 00:00:41.530 --> 00:00:43.490 And that's exactly what we're digging into. We 00:00:43.490 --> 00:00:45.409 want to look past the surface, you know, the 00:00:45.409 --> 00:00:47.909 silver wig, the flat voice, the soup cans to 00:00:47.909 --> 00:00:50.130 really get at the mechanism behind the mystique. 00:00:50.450 --> 00:00:53.259 How does a boy. from a working class immigrant 00:00:53.259 --> 00:00:56.640 family, become what the art world now calls the 00:00:56.640 --> 00:00:58.899 bellwether of the art market. Right. He was the 00:00:58.899 --> 00:01:00.799 first to really synthesize this idea that being 00:01:00.799 --> 00:01:02.579 good in business was the most fascinating kind 00:01:02.579 --> 00:01:05.120 of art. And that is absolutely the key. His whole 00:01:05.120 --> 00:01:08.260 transformation of everyday consumer goods, you 00:01:08.260 --> 00:01:11.540 know, celebrity photos into these instantly recognizable 00:01:11.540 --> 00:01:15.500 artworks. it fundamentally challenged and really 00:01:15.500 --> 00:01:18.200 collapsed the old boundaries between high and 00:01:18.200 --> 00:01:20.420 low culture. And he did it through his embrace 00:01:20.420 --> 00:01:22.060 of mechanical reproduction. Yeah, philosophical 00:01:22.060 --> 00:01:24.799 embrace, really. It wasn't just a tool for him. 00:01:24.920 --> 00:01:27.599 So, okay, here's the first paradox we have to 00:01:27.599 --> 00:01:30.900 wrestle with. Warhol is famous for coining the 00:01:30.900 --> 00:01:34.299 phrase 15 minutes of fame, which implies something 00:01:34.299 --> 00:01:36.900 fleeting, right? Yeah, totally ephemeral. But 00:01:36.900 --> 00:01:38.819 if you actually look at his career, his market. 00:01:39.019 --> 00:01:42.310 Yeah. He engineered everything, not for 15 minutes, 00:01:42.489 --> 00:01:45.290 but for this lasting, massive, and constantly 00:01:45.290 --> 00:01:47.709 appreciating influence. Absolutely. I mean, look 00:01:47.709 --> 00:01:49.790 at his work now. It ranks among the most expensive 00:01:49.790 --> 00:01:53.290 art ever sold. That 2022 sale of Shot Sage Blue 00:01:53.290 --> 00:01:57.150 Maryland for $195 million. Unbelievable. It's 00:01:57.150 --> 00:01:59.510 the highest price ever paid at auction for a 00:01:59.510 --> 00:02:01.829 work by an American artist. And that tells you 00:02:01.829 --> 00:02:04.310 everything. The man who celebrated surface value 00:02:04.310 --> 00:02:06.989 achieved this immortal depth in the market. That's 00:02:06.989 --> 00:02:10.389 not luck. That is pure strategic genius. Okay, 00:02:10.449 --> 00:02:13.449 let's unpack that journey. Because the Andy Warhol 00:02:13.449 --> 00:02:16.189 we think we know is a total invention. And it's 00:02:16.189 --> 00:02:19.169 built on a foundation that is surprisingly rigid. 00:02:20.039 --> 00:02:22.780 And totally unexpected. The working class foundation 00:02:22.780 --> 00:02:25.520 is just so critical to understanding the persona 00:02:25.520 --> 00:02:28.319 he eventually built. It's the contrast that makes 00:02:28.319 --> 00:02:30.639 the whole story so compelling. He was born Andrew 00:02:30.639 --> 00:02:34.340 Warhola Jr. in Pittsburgh, 1928. His parents, 00:02:34.560 --> 00:02:37.360 Andrzej and Julia Warhola, were working class 00:02:37.360 --> 00:02:40.020 Rizin immigrants. Right. For anyone who isn't 00:02:40.020 --> 00:02:41.819 familiar with that heritage, they came from a 00:02:41.819 --> 00:02:43.979 village called Mikko, which was then in Austria 00:02:43.979 --> 00:02:46.419 -Hungary, but is now in modern day Slovakia. 00:02:46.439 --> 00:02:49.539 So Eastern European roots. Deeply. The Rusyns 00:02:49.539 --> 00:02:52.000 or Carpatho -Rusyns have this very strong cultural 00:02:52.000 --> 00:02:54.539 identity. And his father, Andrzej, worked in 00:02:54.539 --> 00:02:56.379 a coal mine. I mean, you can't get a more foundational 00:02:56.379 --> 00:02:59.000 working class job than that. And critically, 00:02:59.180 --> 00:03:02.620 the family was devoutly Ruthenian Catholic. So 00:03:02.620 --> 00:03:06.280 you've got this very strict religious blue collar 00:03:06.280 --> 00:03:09.099 upbringing. How does an environment like that, 00:03:09.159 --> 00:03:10.919 which sounds like the total opposite of the silver 00:03:10.919 --> 00:03:13.099 painted decadence of the factory, even begin 00:03:13.099 --> 00:03:15.500 to shape an artist like him? It shapes him through 00:03:15.500 --> 00:03:18.939 isolation. At eight years old, he got a severe 00:03:18.939 --> 00:03:21.900 streptococcal infection, which led to this cascade 00:03:21.900 --> 00:03:25.099 of other illnesses, scarlet fever, rheumatic 00:03:25.099 --> 00:03:27.800 fever, and most importantly, sudden hemschoria. 00:03:28.060 --> 00:03:29.819 Which is often called St. Vitus' dance, right? 00:03:29.879 --> 00:03:32.460 Exactly. It's a neurological condition. It causes 00:03:32.460 --> 00:03:34.919 these involuntary movements, and it basically 00:03:34.919 --> 00:03:37.960 confined him to his bed for long, essential periods 00:03:37.960 --> 00:03:40.539 of his childhood. That sounds like such a crucial, 00:03:40.620 --> 00:03:43.639 formative experience for a creative kid. I mean, 00:03:43.659 --> 00:03:46.409 it removes you from school. from social pressures 00:03:46.409 --> 00:03:48.930 and just puts you in a space where your internal 00:03:48.930 --> 00:03:51.430 life is all that matters. It was absolutely a 00:03:51.430 --> 00:03:54.189 formative isolation. He spent all that downtime 00:03:54.189 --> 00:03:56.650 just developing his core artistic skills. He 00:03:56.650 --> 00:03:58.949 was drawing constantly, but he also started making 00:03:58.949 --> 00:04:01.590 these meticulous scrapbooks just crammed with 00:04:01.590 --> 00:04:03.770 Hollywood magazines. So the obsession with celebrity 00:04:03.770 --> 00:04:06.009 starts right there. It does. He's obsessively 00:04:06.009 --> 00:04:08.669 cutting out comic book images his mother, Julia, 00:04:08.889 --> 00:04:11.229 would buy for him. This is the beginning of his 00:04:11.229 --> 00:04:13.770 obsession with celebrity, with reproduction and 00:04:13.770 --> 00:04:16.519 with the beautiful. manufactured surface of American 00:04:16.519 --> 00:04:18.980 pop culture. And there's a really great anecdote 00:04:18.980 --> 00:04:21.779 about his father that kind of runs counter to 00:04:21.779 --> 00:04:24.699 the stereotype of the, you know, the gruff immigrant 00:04:24.699 --> 00:04:26.959 dad who doesn't support the arts. That's right. 00:04:27.199 --> 00:04:29.959 His father and his brothers, they saw his passion 00:04:29.959 --> 00:04:32.339 for photography growing and they actually built 00:04:32.339 --> 00:04:35.740 him a dark room in their basement. Wow. So this 00:04:35.740 --> 00:04:38.899 coal miner dad, focused on physical labor, provides 00:04:38.899 --> 00:04:41.720 the literal tools for Warhol's later obsession 00:04:41.720 --> 00:04:44.839 with mass media. It shows this real early support 00:04:44.839 --> 00:04:47.139 for his talent, even if they couldn't possibly 00:04:47.139 --> 00:04:49.259 have known where it would lead. And then the 00:04:49.259 --> 00:04:51.139 real acceleration happens after high school. 00:04:51.259 --> 00:04:53.259 Yeah. He graduates from the Carnegie Institute 00:04:53.259 --> 00:04:57.079 of Technology in 49 with a BFA in pictorial design 00:04:57.079 --> 00:04:59.519 and then makes the move that defines everything. 00:05:00.170 --> 00:05:02.350 New York City. And he did not waste any time. 00:05:02.449 --> 00:05:05.110 He moved there in June of 49 and, I mean, almost 00:05:05.110 --> 00:05:07.269 instantly turned that education into commercial 00:05:07.269 --> 00:05:09.910 success. The sources say that on his second day 00:05:09.910 --> 00:05:11.910 in the city, he met with the art director of 00:05:11.910 --> 00:05:14.069 Glamour magazine. His second day. Second day. 00:05:14.110 --> 00:05:15.990 And he secured his first commission right then 00:05:15.990 --> 00:05:19.050 and there, drawing shoes for an ad. And shoes 00:05:19.050 --> 00:05:22.529 became this huge thing for him in the 50s. It's 00:05:22.529 --> 00:05:25.129 a motif that connects him directly to high fashion, 00:05:25.170 --> 00:05:27.850 to commercial polish. And it was during this 00:05:27.850 --> 00:05:30.189 period, working for clients like Israel Miller 00:05:30.189 --> 00:05:33.029 Shoes and RCA Records, that he developed his 00:05:33.029 --> 00:05:36.649 first signature style, the blotted line technique. 00:05:36.990 --> 00:05:39.230 Yes, and this is so fascinating because it's 00:05:39.230 --> 00:05:42.329 a direct precursor to pop art, but he developed 00:05:42.329 --> 00:05:44.850 it entirely for commercial work. So how did it 00:05:44.850 --> 00:05:47.910 work? It was a very simple, kind of rudimentary 00:05:47.910 --> 00:05:51.079 form of printmaking. He would draw a basic image, 00:05:51.339 --> 00:05:54.180 apply ink to the paper, and then immediately 00:05:54.180 --> 00:05:56.759 blot the wet ink onto a new sheet, usually with 00:05:56.759 --> 00:05:59.019 tracing paper. So why was that so revolutionary 00:05:59.019 --> 00:06:01.680 for him, even in just a commercial context? Because 00:06:01.680 --> 00:06:04.040 it solved a few problems at once. First, it let 00:06:04.040 --> 00:06:06.060 him repeat the basic image over and over again, 00:06:06.100 --> 00:06:07.920 which is super efficient for an illustrator. 00:06:08.000 --> 00:06:10.560 But second, the blotting process itself meant 00:06:10.560 --> 00:06:12.819 you never got a perfect copy. Ah, so it introduced 00:06:12.819 --> 00:06:15.829 imperfection. Exactly. It created these subtle, 00:06:15.970 --> 00:06:18.829 unpredictable variations. The line would blur 00:06:18.829 --> 00:06:21.430 or get thinner. It gave the reproduced image 00:06:21.430 --> 00:06:23.810 the slightly hand -drawn, almost ghost -like 00:06:23.810 --> 00:06:26.689 quality, but it still felt mechanically generated. 00:06:26.949 --> 00:06:29.529 It was this ingenious, low -tech way of doing 00:06:29.529 --> 00:06:32.529 mechanical reproduction long before he ever touched 00:06:32.529 --> 00:06:35.990 a silkscreen. He was literally engineering imperfection 00:06:35.990 --> 00:06:38.899 into the process of reproduction. That's a huge 00:06:38.899 --> 00:06:41.600 conceptual leap for a commercial artist. And 00:06:41.600 --> 00:06:43.899 this obsession with shoes and high -end goods 00:06:43.899 --> 00:06:46.980 led to that great anecdote about celebrity. Right. 00:06:47.040 --> 00:06:49.339 As a hobby, he starts sketching these ornate 00:06:49.339 --> 00:06:51.800 shoes, but he'd embellish them with gold leaf 00:06:51.800 --> 00:06:54.480 and dedicate each one to a famous person, Truman 00:06:54.480 --> 00:06:56.879 Capote, Elvis Presley, you name it. Did they 00:06:56.879 --> 00:07:00.050 sell? They did. They were exhibited in 1957 and 00:07:00.050 --> 00:07:04.149 sold pretty well for $50 to $225 each. So he's 00:07:04.149 --> 00:07:06.290 already establishing a market for this mix of 00:07:06.290 --> 00:07:08.490 mass -produced glamour and celebrity worship. 00:07:08.769 --> 00:07:11.350 Which brings us to a really key point of tension 00:07:11.350 --> 00:07:13.329 that set him apart. You know, a lot of artists 00:07:13.329 --> 00:07:15.350 who went from commercial to fine art, like the 00:07:15.350 --> 00:07:17.769 abstract expressionists, they tried to hide their 00:07:17.769 --> 00:07:20.269 commercial past. They saw it as a stain. Warhol 00:07:20.269 --> 00:07:23.139 did the exact opposite. He absolutely embraced 00:07:23.139 --> 00:07:25.579 it. He printed and handed out these beautiful 00:07:25.579 --> 00:07:28.300 little books of his illustrations, like 25 Cats 00:07:28.300 --> 00:07:31.600 Named Sam and One Blue Pussy. His mother, Julia, 00:07:31.839 --> 00:07:34.180 even did the calligraphy. So he was using his 00:07:34.180 --> 00:07:36.920 commercial work to get fine artwork? Explicitly. 00:07:36.920 --> 00:07:39.740 He was actively marketing himself, building the 00:07:39.740 --> 00:07:42.220 Warhol brand through commercial means. And you 00:07:42.220 --> 00:07:44.839 can imagine that created enormous friction in 00:07:44.839 --> 00:07:47.720 the high art world of the late 1950s. They saw 00:07:47.720 --> 00:07:50.319 it as, you know, capitulating to consumerism. 00:07:50.319 --> 00:07:52.579 But for him, it was armor. It was total armor. 00:07:52.720 --> 00:07:55.040 He established himself as a commercial powerhouse 00:07:55.040 --> 00:07:57.839 first. He legitimized his techniques, repetition, 00:07:58.160 --> 00:08:01.300 speed, mass appeal. And then in the early 60s, 00:08:01.300 --> 00:08:03.000 he just took that successful commercial machine 00:08:03.000 --> 00:08:05.560 and pointed it directly at the fine art world. 00:08:05.620 --> 00:08:07.899 It's a perfect, almost flawless bit of market 00:08:07.899 --> 00:08:10.300 maneuvering. That conversion happened so dramatically 00:08:10.300 --> 00:08:13.439 around 1961. And the leap to fine art starts, 00:08:13.740 --> 00:08:16.420 fittingly, not in a gallery, but back in the 00:08:16.420 --> 00:08:19.939 commercial world. Exactly. In April 61, his first 00:08:19.939 --> 00:08:23.220 pop paintings, images based on comics and ads, 00:08:23.339 --> 00:08:26.500 like Saturday's Popeye and Superman, they weren't 00:08:26.500 --> 00:08:28.600 in a gallery. They were in a window display at 00:08:28.600 --> 00:08:31.019 the Bonwit Teller department store. He's literally 00:08:31.019 --> 00:08:34.080 using commercial space to debut his fine art. 00:08:34.279 --> 00:08:37.000 And the move to his signature technique, silk 00:08:37.000 --> 00:08:40.000 screening, was prompted by an image that is itself 00:08:40.000 --> 00:08:43.350 a unit of commerce. Money. That's right. Drawing 00:08:43.350 --> 00:08:45.929 dollar bills was the turning point. It inspired 00:08:45.929 --> 00:08:48.549 him to find a faster, more industrial method 00:08:48.549 --> 00:08:51.309 than the blotted line. He learned how to silkscreen 00:08:51.309 --> 00:08:53.990 in the spring of 62 from a guy named Max Arthur 00:08:53.990 --> 00:08:57.169 Cohn. And silkscreening became the perfect technological 00:08:57.169 --> 00:08:59.990 mirror for his whole philosophy. It was perfect. 00:09:00.070 --> 00:09:02.370 It allowed for reproduction, variation, speed, 00:09:02.529 --> 00:09:04.490 and most importantly, it gave him this element 00:09:04.490 --> 00:09:07.309 of mechanical anonymity. It took the artist's 00:09:07.309 --> 00:09:09.269 hand out of the equation. How was it that much 00:09:09.269 --> 00:09:11.450 different from the blotted line philosophically? 00:09:11.740 --> 00:09:14.039 Well, the blotted line was reproducible, sure, 00:09:14.159 --> 00:09:16.679 but it still needed his physical touch. You know, 00:09:16.700 --> 00:09:19.320 the pen, the manual blotting. Silk screening 00:09:19.320 --> 00:09:21.860 allowed for a photographic image to be transferred 00:09:21.860 --> 00:09:24.480 directly onto the screen. He could take an existing 00:09:24.480 --> 00:09:27.500 image, a soup can label, a celebrity photo, and 00:09:27.500 --> 00:09:30.200 reproduce it infinitely with assistance. It let 00:09:30.200 --> 00:09:32.440 him actually become a machine. And with that 00:09:32.440 --> 00:09:35.639 new industrial tool, his most iconic images just 00:09:35.639 --> 00:09:38.639 explode onto the scene almost overnight. Totally. 00:09:38.740 --> 00:09:42.559 In May of 62, his painting Big Campbell's soup 00:09:42.559 --> 00:09:45.360 can with can opener gets featured in Time magazine. 00:09:45.620 --> 00:09:48.500 And that starts his most sustained motif, taking 00:09:48.500 --> 00:09:51.820 this mundane, ubiquitous thing and forcing the 00:09:51.820 --> 00:09:53.860 art world to look at it. Which leads directly 00:09:53.860 --> 00:09:56.059 to that huge moment later that year in L .A. 00:09:56.279 --> 00:09:58.379 the debut of the Campbell soup cans at the Ferris 00:09:58.379 --> 00:10:02.000 Gallery. Yes, July 1962. That exhibition just 00:10:02.000 --> 00:10:04.720 crystallized his whole confrontation with consumerism. 00:10:04.759 --> 00:10:07.740 There were 32 cans, each on its own canvas, looking 00:10:07.740 --> 00:10:09.820 almost identical, just like cans on a grocery 00:10:09.820 --> 00:10:12.120 shelf. And his philosophy on this is summed up 00:10:12.120 --> 00:10:14.120 perfectly in that famous quote about Coca -Cola. 00:10:14.360 --> 00:10:16.399 It wasn't about celebrating the art connoisseur. 00:10:16.440 --> 00:10:18.480 It was about celebrating democratic sameness. 00:10:18.720 --> 00:10:20.379 Let's hear that quote again, because it's really 00:10:20.379 --> 00:10:23.320 a manifesto for his whole career. He said. What's 00:10:23.320 --> 00:10:25.399 great about this country is that America started 00:10:25.399 --> 00:10:27.440 the tradition where the richest consumers buy 00:10:27.440 --> 00:10:30.200 essentially the same things as the poorest. You 00:10:30.200 --> 00:10:32.480 could be watching TV and see Coca -Cola, and 00:10:32.480 --> 00:10:34.240 you know that the president drinks Coca -Cola, 00:10:34.340 --> 00:10:36.899 Liz Taylor drinks Coca -Cola, and just think, 00:10:36.980 --> 00:10:39.620 you can drink Coca -Cola too. A Coke is a Coke 00:10:39.620 --> 00:10:41.679 and no amount of money can get you a better Coke 00:10:41.679 --> 00:10:43.279 than the one the bum on the corner is drinking. 00:10:43.480 --> 00:10:45.740 That is the whole idea of pop art in a nutshell. 00:10:45.899 --> 00:10:48.379 It just strips away all the snobbery. The beauty 00:10:48.379 --> 00:10:50.980 of the object is that everyone has access to 00:10:50.980 --> 00:10:54.059 it. But it's so fascinating that this democratic 00:10:54.059 --> 00:10:56.840 spirit immediately got this intense backlash 00:10:56.840 --> 00:10:59.220 from the establishment. How bad was the reaction? 00:10:59.480 --> 00:11:02.559 It was pretty bad. In December of 62, the Museum 00:11:02.559 --> 00:11:06.399 of Modern Art held this big symposium and the 00:11:06.399 --> 00:11:20.389 critics there just attacked. And that kind of 00:11:20.389 --> 00:11:22.509 rejection could have sent another artist into 00:11:22.509 --> 00:11:25.610 hiding. But Warhol just leans into the absurdity. 00:11:25.629 --> 00:11:28.429 He even forms an avant -garde noise band, the 00:11:28.429 --> 00:11:31.639 Druds, in 63. The Druds are a perfect example 00:11:31.639 --> 00:11:34.220 of his ability to just exist in all these contradictory 00:11:34.220 --> 00:11:36.820 worlds at once. It was a short -lived band, but 00:11:36.820 --> 00:11:39.220 the members were from the minimal and proto -conceptual 00:11:39.220 --> 00:11:42.019 art scenes, like Larry Poons and Walter DeMaria. 00:11:42.340 --> 00:11:44.659 So he's being rejected by one part of the art 00:11:44.659 --> 00:11:46.779 world while being embraced by the avant -garde. 00:11:46.940 --> 00:11:50.419 Exactly. And by 63, the sheer volume of his work 00:11:50.419 --> 00:11:53.639 demands a new headquarters. And so the Notorious 00:11:53.639 --> 00:11:57.519 Factory is born at 231 East 47th Street. A place 00:11:57.519 --> 00:11:59.980 that became synonymous with New York counterculture. 00:12:00.279 --> 00:12:02.799 It was so much more than a studio. It was a scene, 00:12:02.899 --> 00:12:05.519 a hub for artists, musicians, drag queens, a 00:12:05.519 --> 00:12:08.500 whole bohemian world. And the aesthetic was immediate 00:12:08.500 --> 00:12:11.259 and purposeful. A guy named Billy Name painted 00:12:11.259 --> 00:12:14.000 the whole studio silver and covered it in aluminum 00:12:14.000 --> 00:12:16.789 foil. What was the idea behind the silver? It's 00:12:16.789 --> 00:12:19.210 industrial glamour. It's reflective, synthetic, 00:12:19.690 --> 00:12:23.350 metallic like a machine or a food wrapper. It 00:12:23.350 --> 00:12:27.029 visually reinforced his whole move toward industrialized 00:12:27.029 --> 00:12:29.590 production, where he had assistants like Gerard 00:12:29.590 --> 00:12:31.809 Malanga helping crank out silkscreen multiples. 00:12:32.309 --> 00:12:35.190 The factory was a place where creativity was 00:12:35.190 --> 00:12:37.970 processed like it was on an assembly line. And 00:12:37.970 --> 00:12:40.110 we see that clash between his art and political 00:12:40.110 --> 00:12:43.889 sensitivity so clearly in 1964 with the commission 00:12:43.889 --> 00:12:46.480 for the World's Fair. Oh, the 13 Most Wanted 00:12:46.480 --> 00:12:49.419 Men mural. It was based on police mugshots. It 00:12:49.419 --> 00:12:51.980 was hugely controversial and government officials 00:12:51.980 --> 00:12:54.120 objected almost immediately. And it was painted 00:12:54.120 --> 00:12:56.419 over before the fair even opened. Gone. Which 00:12:56.419 --> 00:12:59.320 just proves that the everyday image, a mugshot 00:12:59.320 --> 00:13:01.100 in this case, when it's magnified and repeated 00:13:01.100 --> 00:13:03.740 by Warhol, still had this cultural shock value 00:13:03.740 --> 00:13:05.899 the establishment just wasn't ready for. And 00:13:05.899 --> 00:13:07.700 he proved he could monetize that shock value 00:13:07.700 --> 00:13:09.799 at the pivotal American supermarket exhibition 00:13:09.799 --> 00:13:13.049 later in 64. That show was designed to look exactly 00:13:13.049 --> 00:13:15.350 like a grocery store, but everything inside was 00:13:15.350 --> 00:13:17.509 art. It's just market performance art at its 00:13:17.509 --> 00:13:20.139 absolute finest. So what did he do? Well, he 00:13:20.139 --> 00:13:23.200 sold a painting of a soup can on canvas for $1 00:13:23.200 --> 00:13:27.000 ,500. But at the same time, he also autographed 00:13:27.000 --> 00:13:30.879 real, actual Campbell's soup cans and sold them 00:13:30.879 --> 00:13:35.039 for $6 .50 each. Or three for $18, a bulk discount. 00:13:35.259 --> 00:13:38.299 Exactly. He was directly quantifying the value 00:13:38.299 --> 00:13:41.019 of celebrity endorsement versus the value of 00:13:41.019 --> 00:13:43.879 fine art. He was showing everyone that the signature 00:13:43.879 --> 00:13:46.500 and the idea were the real products, whether 00:13:46.500 --> 00:13:48.840 the medium was a canvas or a literal canvas. 00:13:48.809 --> 00:13:52.029 can of soup. So as we get into the mid -60s, 00:13:52.029 --> 00:13:54.710 Warhol is just pushing the boundaries of what 00:13:54.710 --> 00:13:57.450 an artist is even supposed to be. After showing 00:13:57.450 --> 00:14:00.909 his Flowers series in Paris in 65, he announces 00:14:00.909 --> 00:14:03.570 he's retiring from painting to focus on film. 00:14:03.820 --> 00:14:05.620 Which was a total shocker to the art world, but 00:14:05.620 --> 00:14:07.240 if you think about it, it makes perfect sense 00:14:07.240 --> 00:14:09.519 conceptually. If his art is all about reproduction 00:14:09.519 --> 00:14:12.179 and mechanical anonymity, what's more reproducible 00:14:12.179 --> 00:14:14.679 than film? Right. And his response to his dealer 00:14:14.679 --> 00:14:17.320 who suggested he paint cows is legendary. He 00:14:17.320 --> 00:14:19.639 didn't paint them on canvas. He produced cow 00:14:19.639 --> 00:14:22.580 wallpaper in 1966, which literally covered the 00:14:22.580 --> 00:14:24.840 walls of the Leo Castelli Gallery. He turned 00:14:24.840 --> 00:14:27.379 painting into environmental decoration. He was 00:14:27.379 --> 00:14:29.799 incredibly prolific in this film phase, from 00:14:29.799 --> 00:14:33.679 63 to 68, made over 600 films. just audacious 00:14:33.679 --> 00:14:36.259 in their simplicity I mean think about sleep 00:14:36.259 --> 00:14:38.860 six hours of the poet John Giorno just sleeping 00:14:38.860 --> 00:14:41.940 or eat which is Robert Indiana eating a mushroom 00:14:41.940 --> 00:14:44.379 for 45 minutes they weren't about plot they were 00:14:44.379 --> 00:14:46.440 about forcing you to confront the simple act 00:14:46.440 --> 00:14:48.899 of duration but the breakthrough film The one 00:14:48.899 --> 00:14:50.940 that really translated his pop philosophy to 00:14:50.940 --> 00:14:54.460 cinema was Chelsea Girls in 1966. Chelsea Girls 00:14:54.460 --> 00:14:58.019 was so innovative. He projected two 16mm films 00:14:58.019 --> 00:15:00.740 at the same time, side by side, each with its 00:15:00.740 --> 00:15:02.820 own separate audio track. So it was like his 00:15:02.820 --> 00:15:05.279 silkscreen multiples but on screen. Exactly. 00:15:05.279 --> 00:15:08.299 It visually evoked that same repetition and variation. 00:15:08.539 --> 00:15:10.860 And let's not forget the Pure Camp. He also made 00:15:10.860 --> 00:15:13.460 this unauthorized Batman Dracula in 1964. He 00:15:13.460 --> 00:15:15.860 just loved bee culture. And this film phase was 00:15:15.860 --> 00:15:18.399 also where he cemented the fame of... his factory 00:15:18.399 --> 00:15:22.179 crew, his superstars, Edie Sedgwick, Nico, Viva, 00:15:22.299 --> 00:15:24.759 Candy Darling. He used the camera to elevate 00:15:24.759 --> 00:15:26.879 these marginal figures into real celebrities. 00:15:27.159 --> 00:15:29.960 He was a curator of celebrity, and that extended 00:15:29.960 --> 00:15:33.159 to music. At the end of 1965, he starts managing 00:15:33.159 --> 00:15:35.720 the experimental rock group The Velvet Underground. 00:15:36.120 --> 00:15:38.759 Right, and he makes them the house band for his 00:15:38.759 --> 00:15:41.519 exploding plastic inevitable multimedia events. 00:15:41.799 --> 00:15:44.379 He funded their debut album, The Velvet Underground 00:15:44.379 --> 00:15:47.139 and Nico, provided that iconic banana album. 00:15:47.179 --> 00:15:50.299 But the sources are clear his actual production 00:15:50.299 --> 00:15:52.779 role was pretty minimal. So what did he actually 00:15:52.779 --> 00:15:56.340 do? He was a conceptual umbrella. Producer basically 00:15:56.340 --> 00:15:59.440 meant he paid for the studio time. But his brand, 00:15:59.679 --> 00:16:02.320 his association, was the most valuable part of 00:16:02.320 --> 00:16:04.820 the production. He gave them the instant credibility 00:16:04.820 --> 00:16:07.529 of the counterculture's most famous artist. But 00:16:07.529 --> 00:16:10.629 that whole era of kind of carefree experimentation 00:16:10.629 --> 00:16:15.149 comes to a violent end on June 3rd, 1968. This 00:16:15.149 --> 00:16:17.289 is the ultimate turning point. It was a brutal 00:16:17.289 --> 00:16:19.389 act that changed his life and his art forever. 00:16:19.629 --> 00:16:22.149 A radical feminist writer named Valerie Solanas, 00:16:22.210 --> 00:16:24.549 who was a marginal figure at the factory, walked 00:16:24.549 --> 00:16:26.889 into the studio and shot him. She also shot the 00:16:26.889 --> 00:16:30.070 art critic Mario Amaya. Yes. Solanas claimed 00:16:30.070 --> 00:16:33.570 Warhol had too much control over my life. She 00:16:33.570 --> 00:16:35.330 was later diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia, 00:16:35.690 --> 00:16:38.669 but the consequences for Warhol were just profound. 00:16:39.049 --> 00:16:41.029 He was so seriously wounded. He was in the hospital 00:16:41.029 --> 00:16:43.309 for almost two months, and because of the internal 00:16:43.309 --> 00:16:45.470 damage, he had to wear a surgical corset for 00:16:45.470 --> 00:16:48.129 the rest of his life. The physical and psychological 00:16:48.129 --> 00:16:50.990 toll was just enormous. And that trauma directly 00:16:50.990 --> 00:16:54.149 led to this major shift. The factory becomes 00:16:54.149 --> 00:16:57.110 much less chaotic, much more regulated. Yes, 00:16:57.190 --> 00:16:59.370 Paul Morrissey takes over film direction and 00:16:59.370 --> 00:17:02.149 he steers the Warhol brand toward more commercially 00:17:02.149 --> 00:17:04.950 accessible B -movies like Flesh and Trash. The 00:17:04.950 --> 00:17:07.809 whole vibe changes. Collaborator said it transformed 00:17:07.809 --> 00:17:10.569 into a regular office. A business enterprise. 00:17:10.849 --> 00:17:12.990 A necessary adaptation after the danger of the 00:17:12.990 --> 00:17:16.190 60s. And for his own art, the shooting triggered 00:17:16.190 --> 00:17:19.099 this shift toward instant documentation. He started 00:17:19.099 --> 00:17:22.140 using a Polaroid camera to document his recuperation. 00:17:22.259 --> 00:17:25.099 He started carrying one everywhere, just chronicling 00:17:25.099 --> 00:17:27.539 his daily life. And those Polaroids became the 00:17:27.539 --> 00:17:29.880 foundation for his entire portrait business in 00:17:29.880 --> 00:17:32.240 the 70s. They were the raw material. Exactly. 00:17:32.380 --> 00:17:34.700 And on a personal level, the trauma led to his 00:17:34.700 --> 00:17:37.839 most enduring romantic relationship. An assistant 00:17:37.839 --> 00:17:40.359 named Jed Johnson visited him every day in the 00:17:40.359 --> 00:17:42.759 hospital, and he moved in with Warhol to help 00:17:42.759 --> 00:17:45.619 nurse him back to health. So the 1970s, this 00:17:45.619 --> 00:17:47.500 marks the era of what's called business art. 00:17:47.900 --> 00:17:50.220 These were quieter, more entrepreneurial years. 00:17:50.500 --> 00:17:53.240 Art critic Robert Hughes called him the white 00:17:53.240 --> 00:17:56.599 mole of Union Square. That name captures the 00:17:56.599 --> 00:17:59.119 shift perfectly. He's moving away from the silver 00:17:59.119 --> 00:18:01.579 -painted spectacle and into the quiet, calculating 00:18:01.579 --> 00:18:04.400 efficiency of an office. And Warhol embraced 00:18:04.400 --> 00:18:06.720 this publicly. He said it outright, didn't he? 00:18:06.759 --> 00:18:09.039 He did. He said, I went into business art. I 00:18:09.039 --> 00:18:10.839 wanted to be an art businessman or a business 00:18:10.839 --> 00:18:13.700 artist. Being good in business is the most fascinating 00:18:13.700 --> 00:18:16.240 kind of art. He didn't just accept commerce, 00:18:16.380 --> 00:18:18.900 he celebrated it and made it his subject. And 00:18:18.900 --> 00:18:20.680 his main business model became the commissioned 00:18:20.680 --> 00:18:23.299 portrait. It was highly standardized. He charged 00:18:23.299 --> 00:18:26.240 $25 ,000 for a single portrait or he could get 00:18:26.240 --> 00:18:29.259 a deal $40 ,000 for two. And he spent so much 00:18:29.259 --> 00:18:32.220 of his time just networking, finding new rich 00:18:32.220 --> 00:18:34.599 patrons for these commissions, the Shah of Iran, 00:18:34.900 --> 00:18:37.180 Mick Jagger, Diana Ross. And at the same time, 00:18:37.200 --> 00:18:39.859 he's expanding his media empire. For sure. He 00:18:39.859 --> 00:18:42.539 co -founds Interview Magazine in 69. It starts 00:18:42.539 --> 00:18:44.720 as a film journal, but he quickly revamps it 00:18:44.720 --> 00:18:47.380 to focus on celebrity and social life. It becomes 00:18:47.380 --> 00:18:49.779 a strategic vehicle for his business, a place 00:18:49.779 --> 00:18:51.650 where his future subjects could display their 00:18:51.650 --> 00:18:53.650 social currency. He also becomes a commercially 00:18:53.650 --> 00:18:55.589 published author, controlling his own narrative. 00:18:55.910 --> 00:18:58.390 Yes. The Philosophy of Andy Warhol comes out 00:18:58.390 --> 00:19:01.250 in 1975, which really puts his detached persona 00:19:01.250 --> 00:19:04.569 down in print. Then Popism in 1980, where he's 00:19:04.569 --> 00:19:06.750 curating his own history. He even expanded into 00:19:06.750 --> 00:19:09.069 television, hosting shows like Andy Warhol's 00:19:09.069 --> 00:19:12.529 TV and the MTV series Andy Warhol's 15 Minutes. 00:19:12.789 --> 00:19:15.170 Let's talk about the key art series from this 00:19:15.170 --> 00:19:16.710 era, because they were still really provocative. 00:19:16.970 --> 00:19:20.940 In 72, he creates the Massive Mao series. That 00:19:20.940 --> 00:19:23.500 series is a perfect example of turning political 00:19:23.500 --> 00:19:26.700 iconography into a commodity. He takes the universally 00:19:26.700 --> 00:19:29.900 recognized image of Mao Zedong and reproduces 00:19:29.900 --> 00:19:32.660 it in these garish pop colors. He's essentially 00:19:32.660 --> 00:19:35.779 converting a totalitarian symbol into a beautiful, 00:19:35.880 --> 00:19:39.039 mass -produced object. It's just brilliant in 00:19:39.039 --> 00:19:41.319 its irreverence. And then on the total opposite 00:19:41.319 --> 00:19:44.579 end of the spectrum, you have the infamous oxidation 00:19:44.579 --> 00:19:47.880 paintings, the piss paintings. These are so important 00:19:47.880 --> 00:19:49.619 because they show the factory's collaborative 00:19:49.619 --> 00:19:52.640 conceptualism. The process involved priming canvases 00:19:52.640 --> 00:19:55.099 with copper paint, and then the abstract patterns 00:19:55.099 --> 00:19:57.700 were created by urinating on the canvas. Sometimes 00:19:57.700 --> 00:20:00.380 by Warhol, but often by his assistant, Victor 00:20:00.380 --> 00:20:03.339 Hugo. Right. And Warhol's reported comment is 00:20:03.339 --> 00:20:05.799 key. He joked that Victor Hugo's high vitamin 00:20:05.799 --> 00:20:08.339 B intake made the colors prettier. That just 00:20:08.339 --> 00:20:10.680 sums up the whole attitude, irreverent, detached, 00:20:10.880 --> 00:20:13.579 viewing the human body as just another chemical 00:20:13.579 --> 00:20:16.839 machine in the artistic process. And yet he balances 00:20:16.839 --> 00:20:19.619 this outrageous conceptual work with these really 00:20:19.619 --> 00:20:22.319 prestigious commercial collaborations. The BMW 00:20:22.319 --> 00:20:26.240 art car from 1979 is the prime example. He painted 00:20:26.240 --> 00:20:29.960 a BMW M1 racing car and he insisted on painting 00:20:29.960 --> 00:20:32.740 directly on the car himself. The sources say 00:20:32.740 --> 00:20:34.740 he took only 23 minutes to paint the whole thing. 00:20:34.859 --> 00:20:38.079 That's the perfect Warhol moment. Speed, spectacle, 00:20:38.420 --> 00:20:40.839 commerce and performance all rolled into one. 00:20:40.980 --> 00:20:43.200 He also used his art for philanthropy, which 00:20:43.200 --> 00:20:46.230 maybe connects back to his private faith. The 00:20:46.230 --> 00:20:48.750 Endangered Species series from 83 was made for 00:20:48.750 --> 00:20:51.470 the American Museum of Natural History, and he 00:20:51.470 --> 00:20:54.009 donated sets to wildlife organizations for fundraising. 00:20:54.289 --> 00:20:56.069 But he was still always tracking the market, 00:20:56.150 --> 00:20:58.890 the Reigning Queen series from 1985. That was 00:20:58.890 --> 00:21:01.710 entirely commercial. His own diaries show his 00:21:01.710 --> 00:21:04.250 apprehension. He noted the series was for the 00:21:04.250 --> 00:21:06.930 European market because he believed nobody here 00:21:06.930 --> 00:21:09.569 cares about royalty. He was constantly doing 00:21:09.569 --> 00:21:12.349 market analysis. He gets this new jolt of creative 00:21:12.349 --> 00:21:14.509 energy in the 80s, though, from collaborations 00:21:14.509 --> 00:21:17.609 with younger artists, most famously Jean -Michel 00:21:17.609 --> 00:21:20.529 Basquiat. That relationship was incredibly intense. 00:21:20.829 --> 00:21:23.710 They made over 50 large collaborative works. 00:21:23.950 --> 00:21:26.470 And while critics panned them at the time... 00:21:26.809 --> 00:21:29.250 Warhol privately thought some of them were masterpieces. 00:21:29.509 --> 00:21:31.890 It reaffirmed his commitment to collaboration. 00:21:32.390 --> 00:21:34.630 And he was technologically progressive right 00:21:34.630 --> 00:21:37.230 to the end, embracing digital art. Absolutely. 00:21:37.269 --> 00:21:40.650 In 85, he's making digital art on Amiga computers, 00:21:40.869 --> 00:21:44.269 doing a live TV demo with Debbie Harry. He loved 00:21:44.269 --> 00:21:46.650 any technology that enhanced that synthetic, 00:21:46.710 --> 00:21:50.029 reproducible quality. And his final major series 00:21:50.029 --> 00:21:52.849 brought his whole life full circle, the works 00:21:52.849 --> 00:21:55.269 based on Leonardo da Vinci's The Last Supper. 00:21:55.740 --> 00:21:57.380 Completed just before his death, it's the largest 00:21:57.380 --> 00:21:59.440 series of religious -themed works by an American 00:21:59.440 --> 00:22:02.440 artist. It brought his private Catholic faith 00:22:02.440 --> 00:22:05.400 right into his public high art world at the very 00:22:05.400 --> 00:22:07.839 end. Which brings us to the most complex part 00:22:07.839 --> 00:22:10.920 of this whole story, the calculated mask. Warhol 00:22:10.920 --> 00:22:13.420 just perfected the art of the surface. He had 00:22:13.420 --> 00:22:15.940 the supremely impersonal public persona, often 00:22:15.940 --> 00:22:17.720 just giving these flat, noncommittal answers 00:22:17.720 --> 00:22:20.660 like, um, no, and, um, yes. So was that just 00:22:20.660 --> 00:22:22.799 shyness, or was it a calculated move? What was 00:22:22.799 --> 00:22:25.480 the purpose of this monosyllabic mask? Oh, it 00:22:25.480 --> 00:22:27.740 was intentional, a sophisticated form of media 00:22:27.740 --> 00:22:30.819 control. He openly admitted he planted conflicting, 00:22:30.920 --> 00:22:33.119 often false stories about himself in the press 00:22:33.119 --> 00:22:35.859 just to trace how information spread. He always 00:22:35.859 --> 00:22:37.819 said everything you need to know is already there 00:22:37.819 --> 00:22:40.160 on the surface. So the impersonal nature was 00:22:40.160 --> 00:22:43.359 a performance of detachment. Precisely. His longtime 00:22:43.359 --> 00:22:46.599 partner, Jed Johnson, confirmed it. He said Warhol 00:22:46.599 --> 00:22:49.160 maintained a neutral expression at all times 00:22:49.160 --> 00:22:51.839 because showing any deep emotion, pleasure or 00:22:51.839 --> 00:22:54.769 displeasure was, in Warhol's own word, Corny. 00:22:54.829 --> 00:22:57.349 Which makes his private, deep -seated faith all 00:22:57.349 --> 00:23:00.089 the more surprising. We're talking about a devout, 00:23:00.089 --> 00:23:02.990 practicing Ruthenian Catholic who went to Mass 00:23:02.990 --> 00:23:05.710 almost daily. And this faith was active. He volunteered 00:23:05.710 --> 00:23:08.450 at homeless shelters. But his devotion was intensely 00:23:08.450 --> 00:23:11.130 private, almost hidden. The priest at his church 00:23:11.130 --> 00:23:13.349 noted that he always sat or knelt in the back 00:23:13.349 --> 00:23:15.710 pews. Why so secretive about it? Warhol gave 00:23:15.710 --> 00:23:18.650 a fascinating explanation. He said he was self 00:23:18.650 --> 00:23:20.690 -conscious about being seen crossing himself 00:23:20.690 --> 00:23:24.190 in the Orthodox way, right to left, in a Latin 00:23:24.190 --> 00:23:27.349 Catholic church. It was this cultural self -consciousness 00:23:27.349 --> 00:23:30.210 from his resin background. His brother said he 00:23:30.210 --> 00:23:32.549 was really religious, but he didn't want people 00:23:32.549 --> 00:23:35.329 to know because it was private. His sexuality 00:23:35.329 --> 00:23:37.670 is similarly full of ambiguity and contradiction. 00:23:38.319 --> 00:23:41.180 It is. In the 50s, he submitted these beautiful 00:23:41.180 --> 00:23:44.299 homoerotic drawings to a gallery, but they were 00:23:44.299 --> 00:23:47.839 rejected for being too openly gay. And that rejection 00:23:47.839 --> 00:23:49.960 seems to have informed his strategy from then 00:23:49.960 --> 00:23:52.059 on. He kind of weaponized the persona after that. 00:23:52.099 --> 00:23:54.779 Exactly. He recalled being told he was too swish 00:23:54.779 --> 00:23:57.279 compared to more closeted artists like Jasper 00:23:57.279 --> 00:23:59.799 Johns. So he just embraced it, saying he used 00:23:59.799 --> 00:24:02.880 the persona of swish as armor. He enjoyed watching 00:24:02.880 --> 00:24:05.220 people's reactions. But while his public persona 00:24:05.220 --> 00:24:07.740 was guarded, his films were exploring queer identity. 00:24:08.410 --> 00:24:11.269 They were. And yet the contradictions about his 00:24:11.269 --> 00:24:15.069 own sex life are just stark. In 1980, he famously 00:24:15.069 --> 00:24:17.529 claimed he was still a virgin. Some friends even 00:24:17.529 --> 00:24:20.190 agreed, calling his sex life abstract, more about 00:24:20.190 --> 00:24:22.529 watching than participating. But there's evidence 00:24:22.529 --> 00:24:25.049 that contradicts that, right? Yes. A hospital 00:24:25.049 --> 00:24:28.430 record from 1960 shows he was treated for a sexually 00:24:28.430 --> 00:24:31.869 transmitted disease. It seems the public presentation 00:24:31.869 --> 00:24:35.109 of asexuality was just central to his mystique, 00:24:35.130 --> 00:24:38.009 a way to maintain distance. But despite all that, 00:24:38.170 --> 00:24:40.650 his private life did have these profound connections. 00:24:41.029 --> 00:24:43.789 The relationship with Jed Johnson was his most 00:24:43.789 --> 00:24:47.079 enduring. It lasted 12 years. They reportedly 00:24:47.079 --> 00:24:50.339 functioned as husband and husband sharing a bed 00:24:50.339 --> 00:24:53.880 and a domestic life. It's this necessary counterpoint 00:24:53.880 --> 00:24:57.119 to the idea of the cold, asexual machine. And 00:24:57.119 --> 00:24:59.099 the last piece of this puzzle, which ties right 00:24:59.099 --> 00:25:01.440 back to his immigrant roots, is his obsession 00:25:01.440 --> 00:25:03.980 with collecting and hoarding. He was an almost 00:25:03.980 --> 00:25:06.660 pathologically obsessive collector, a pack rat. 00:25:06.839 --> 00:25:08.740 And this connects directly to what you might 00:25:08.740 --> 00:25:11.500 call peasants wisdom, that ingrained fear of 00:25:11.500 --> 00:25:14.319 poverty. He hid his wealth, kept money in his 00:25:14.319 --> 00:25:16.799 mattress, even wore a diamond necklace hidden 00:25:16.799 --> 00:25:18.619 under his turtleneck because he didn't want people 00:25:18.619 --> 00:25:20.960 to know what he had. And this manifested in the 00:25:20.960 --> 00:25:23.640 most literal way with his time capsules. He created 00:25:23.640 --> 00:25:26.900 610 of them. These were mostly just standard 00:25:26.900 --> 00:25:29.400 cardboard boxes, but each one had an average 00:25:29.400 --> 00:25:33.420 of 800 items. Letters, photos, his mother's things, 00:25:33.579 --> 00:25:36.400 even pizza boxes. It was more than hoarding. 00:25:36.420 --> 00:25:38.799 It was constant self -archiving. Turning his 00:25:38.799 --> 00:25:42.240 entire life into a museum exhibit. Exactly. And 00:25:42.240 --> 00:25:44.220 when his collection was finally auctioned after 00:25:44.220 --> 00:25:46.880 his death, the sheer volume was just astounding. 00:25:46.880 --> 00:25:50.099 It grossed over $25 million. And it was everything, 00:25:50.180 --> 00:25:53.420 right? Cookie jars, watches? 175 cookie jars, 00:25:53.720 --> 00:25:57.599 313 watches, antique furniture, and, crucially, 00:25:57.759 --> 00:26:01.000 art by people he admired. Lichtenstein, Basquiat. 00:26:01.160 --> 00:26:04.619 He collected his peers. But here is the final, 00:26:04.640 --> 00:26:07.519 perfect twist that seals the persona. Jed Johnson 00:26:07.519 --> 00:26:09.740 confirmed that Warhol absolutely refused to hang 00:26:09.740 --> 00:26:12.180 his own art in his home. He said it was too corny. 00:26:12.299 --> 00:26:14.140 Wow. You could see it as a product, a market 00:26:14.140 --> 00:26:16.299 force, but not something to live with. That's 00:26:16.299 --> 00:26:18.259 the ultimate detachment. Given how methodical 00:26:18.259 --> 00:26:20.619 he was about everything, his death in 1987 has 00:26:20.619 --> 00:26:23.339 this chilling, tragic irony. It was the mechanical 00:26:23.339 --> 00:26:25.500 failure of the body that he tried so hard to 00:26:25.500 --> 00:26:27.819 deny, and it was entirely avoidable. He'd been 00:26:27.819 --> 00:26:30.940 avoiding gallbladder surgery for 14 years because 00:26:30.940 --> 00:26:34.400 of this intense fear of hospitals. He was trying 00:26:34.400 --> 00:26:37.519 alternative remedies, a chiropractor, a neutrophilist, 00:26:37.579 --> 00:26:40.079 who actually suggested he wear a small crystal. 00:26:40.279 --> 00:26:43.819 By February of 87, the pain was just excruciating. 00:26:44.480 --> 00:26:46.380 He was admitted to New York Hospital and had 00:26:46.380 --> 00:26:49.059 the surgery. The surgeon later found his gallbladder 00:26:49.059 --> 00:26:51.500 was on the verge of perforating. The risk was 00:26:51.500 --> 00:26:53.539 already high because he'd waited so long, and 00:26:53.539 --> 00:26:57.119 yet he died the next morning, February 22nd, 00:26:57.119 --> 00:27:00.160 from a sudden cardiac arrhythmia. The procedure 00:27:00.160 --> 00:27:03.299 was initially called routine, which seems impossible 00:27:03.299 --> 00:27:06.059 given his underlying conditions, especially the 00:27:06.059 --> 00:27:08.579 effects of the 68 shooting. A later investigation 00:27:08.579 --> 00:27:11.140 told a very different story. The New York State 00:27:11.140 --> 00:27:13.359 Health Department actually cited New York Hospital 00:27:13.359 --> 00:27:16.420 for inadequate post -operative care. What were 00:27:16.420 --> 00:27:18.720 the specific findings? They cited a bunch of 00:27:18.720 --> 00:27:21.140 issues, not performing the right tests, a possible 00:27:21.140 --> 00:27:24.039 allergic reaction to antibiotics, and critically, 00:27:24.259 --> 00:27:26.500 causing him to become severely overhydrated. 00:27:26.660 --> 00:27:28.799 So that led to the wrongful death lawsuit from 00:27:28.799 --> 00:27:31.240 his family. Right, alleging the arrhythmia was 00:27:31.240 --> 00:27:34.079 caused by improper care and water intoxication. 00:27:34.380 --> 00:27:37.440 The case was quickly settled out of court. The 00:27:37.440 --> 00:27:39.599 artist who tried to become a machine was ultimately 00:27:39.599 --> 00:27:42.440 killed by a failure of human systems and care. 00:27:42.720 --> 00:27:46.019 And despite the tragedy of his death, his market 00:27:46.019 --> 00:27:49.500 influence just cemented his immortality. One 00:27:49.500 --> 00:27:52.099 art dealer described his market like a seesaw 00:27:52.099 --> 00:27:54.180 being pulled uphill. That's a perfect analogy. 00:27:54.420 --> 00:27:56.799 Prices fluctuate, but each peak and valley happens 00:27:56.799 --> 00:27:58.799 at a substantially higher level than the last. 00:27:59.000 --> 00:28:02.019 He's the ultimate blue chip investment. We mentioned 00:28:02.019 --> 00:28:04.799 the Maryland selling for $195 million, but his 00:28:04.799 --> 00:28:07.140 other major works are up there too. Silver Car 00:28:07.140 --> 00:28:10.099 Crash for over $100 million, eight Elvis's for 00:28:10.099 --> 00:28:12.660 $100 million. His celebrity imagery, Marilyn, 00:28:13.000 --> 00:28:16.279 Elvis, Liz Taylor, it's become a permanent institutionalized 00:28:16.279 --> 00:28:18.839 part of the global art market. And the institutional 00:28:18.839 --> 00:28:21.640 legacy he planned in his will ensures that his 00:28:21.640 --> 00:28:24.259 philosophy continues. His will established the 00:28:24.259 --> 00:28:27.140 Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, dedicated 00:28:27.140 --> 00:28:29.180 to promoting innovative and challenging art. 00:28:29.380 --> 00:28:32.000 And the Andy Warhol Museum opened in Pittsburgh 00:28:32.000 --> 00:28:34.839 in 94, holding the world's largest collection 00:28:34.839 --> 00:28:38.400 of his work, including all 610 of those time 00:28:38.400 --> 00:28:40.859 capsules. The ultimate archive of the man who 00:28:40.859 --> 00:28:43.220 obsessed over archiving himself. And the final 00:28:43.220 --> 00:28:45.420 markers of his place in culture are global now. 00:28:45.579 --> 00:28:48.160 They renamed the 7th Street Bridge in Pittsburgh 00:28:48.160 --> 00:28:51.299 the Andy Warhol Bridge, a crater on Mercury's 00:28:51.299 --> 00:28:54.990 named Warhol. And just recently, in 2024, the 00:28:54.990 --> 00:28:58.109 Slovak Republic, his parents' homeland, posthumously 00:28:58.109 --> 00:29:00.269 awarded him the Order of the White Double Cross. 00:29:00.529 --> 00:29:03.670 The working class immigrant's son is now a symbol 00:29:03.670 --> 00:29:06.289 of Slovakian pride. So if we just synthesize 00:29:06.289 --> 00:29:08.890 this entire journey from that sickly boy in a 00:29:08.890 --> 00:29:11.390 Pittsburgh basement to the silver -wigged mogul, 00:29:11.690 --> 00:29:14.130 Warhol's genius is in his complete and total 00:29:14.130 --> 00:29:16.730 penetration of American culture. He mastered 00:29:16.730 --> 00:29:19.529 celebrity, commerce, and mass production so thoroughly 00:29:19.529 --> 00:29:21.960 that, as one artist said, distinguishing warhol 00:29:21.960 --> 00:29:23.779 from our everyday life is basically impossible 00:29:23.779 --> 00:29:27.119 now so you now have a full complex picture the 00:29:27.119 --> 00:29:29.859 sickly boy making hollywood scrapbooks the commercial 00:29:29.859 --> 00:29:32.000 illustrator who developed techniques of reproduction 00:29:32.000 --> 00:29:34.559 to speed things up the pop artist who claimed 00:29:34.559 --> 00:29:37.240 to retire from painting the victim of a shooting 00:29:37.240 --> 00:29:40.039 who transformed into a quiet calculating business 00:29:40.039 --> 00:29:43.440 artist he was the catholic devotee obsessed with 00:29:43.440 --> 00:29:45.960 surface who turned commercial art into art worth 00:29:45.960 --> 00:29:48.400 hundreds of millions yeah he once said with that 00:29:48.400 --> 00:29:51.200 perfect detached tone I'd like to be a machine, 00:29:51.400 --> 00:29:55.400 wouldn't you? So, if you consider his dedication 00:29:55.400 --> 00:29:57.880 to the silk screen, his use of assistants, his 00:29:57.880 --> 00:30:00.000 tape recorder that he called his wife, those 00:30:00.000 --> 00:30:02.299 meticulous time capsules, the ultimate question 00:30:02.299 --> 00:30:05.059 he leaves us with is this. Did Warhol achieve 00:30:05.059 --> 00:30:07.640 his goal, successfully converting his complex, 00:30:07.759 --> 00:30:10.240 contradictory self into a reproducible, immortal, 00:30:10.420 --> 00:30:12.599 and ultimately profitable brand long before his 00:30:12.599 --> 00:30:15.940 actual and tragically mundane death? It's something 00:30:15.940 --> 00:30:17.839 to think about the next time you see a copy of 00:30:17.839 --> 00:30:18.279 a soup can.