A leading figure in the pop art movement, Warhol is considered one the most important artists of the second half of the 20th century. Some of his best-known works include the silkscreen paintings Campbell's Soup Cans and Marilyn Diptych , the experimental film Chelsea Girls , the multimedia events known as the Exploding Plastic Inevitable —67 , and the erotic film Blue Movie that started the " Golden Age of Porn ".
Born and raised in Pittsburgh in a family of Eastern European immigrants , Warhol initially pursued a successful career as a commercial illustrator in the s.
After exhibiting his work in art galleries , he began to receive recognition as an influential and controversial artist in the s. His New York studio, The Factory , became a well-known gathering place that brought together distinguished intellectuals, drag queens , playwrights, bohemian street people, Hollywood celebrities and wealthy patrons.
Warhol expressed his queer identity through many of his works at a time when homosexuality was actively suppressed in the United States. After surviving an assassination attempt by radical feminist Valerie Solanas in June , Warhol focused on transforming The Factory into a business enterprise. Warhol died of cardiac arrhythmia , aged 58, after gallbladder surgery in February Warhol has been described as the " bellwether of the art market ", with several of his works ranking among the most expensive paintings ever sold.
Warhol has been the subject of numerous retrospective exhibitions , books, and documentary films. The Andy Warhol Museum in his native city of Pittsburgh, which holds an extensive permanent collection of art and archives, is the largest museum in the United States dedicated to a single artist.
