The complete icon

While he himself became as iconic as any rock star, Andy Warhol (1928-1987) was at the same time a creator of icons. Warhol coincided with one of the most liberating periods, from a creative standpoint, of the 20th century, yet he seemed to have his eyes fixed on the 21st century, and 30 years since his death Andy Warhol’s work still seems new and fresh. Warhol has managed to cross the frontier of the new century as few artists can, outside of the likes of Picasso or Dalí, and the reason is that Warhol continues to be appreciated by both the public and the art industry. Warhol is also an artist who makes a fundamental contribution to the reflections on the connection between mass culture and art, as well as that between authorship and reproducibility.

Those eager to explore these aspects of Warhol’s art need look no further than a retrospective exhibition in CaixaForum Barcelona organised with the Malaga Picasso Museum. In all, there are 352 works by the US artist, including paintings, sculptures, sketches, screen prints, films, magazines, objects and photos. The exhibition takes the visitor from the beginnings of Warhol’s career, as a graphic designer and illustrator in New York in the 1950s, to the high points of his fame and the world famous work he is known for. They are all here: Marilyn, Mao, Liz Taylor and Jackie Kennedy, along with the colourful blooms, the cows, the silver clouds, the tins of Campbell soup and the boxes of Brillo. The last time Barcelona hosted a Warhol retrospective was in the Fundació Miró back in 1996.

José Lebrero, artistic director of the Malaga Picasso Museum and curator of the exhibition, provides a long list of definitions for Warhol that is too long to print here. From painter and draughtsman to music producer, no artistic discipline escaped Warhol. Lebrero points out that he was also a businessman at the same time as being a humble artist and craftsman working in a workshop. The curator of the exhibition also points to the fact that a sickly boy from a provincial city like Pittsburgh, the son of Slovenian immigrants, who was struggling with his sexual identity and many physical complexes, ended up becoming one of the 20th century’s most influential and important artists, as well as one of its biggest celebrities. What’s more, Warhol had to overcome a further hurdle, says Lebrero: “Warhol arrived in New York at the peak of the abstract expressionist painters, which was considered the American art par excellence. That is why initially Warhol’s art was roundly rejected. He proposed going to the supermarket, buying a tin of soup and transforming it. That was a revolution! And that is why, as with Picasso, Warhol has become a 20th century cultural icon.”