Campbell’s Soup Cans by Andy Warhol
Andy Warhol was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania on August 6, 1928. Warhol is best known for his exploration of Pop Art and for making multiple images of mass produced objects. His most famous work of this type is the Campbell’s Soup cans.
The Campbell’s Soup cans series was first exhibited in 1962 at Warhol‘s first solo pop art exhibit. The showing took place in November of 1962 at Eleanor Ward’s Stable Gallery. The collection consists of 32, 20 by 16 inch canvases. The canvases were displayed on a shelf and the intent was to resemble an isle in a grocery store. Each canvas has a different flavor of Campbell’s soup. There are 32 canvases because, at the time, Campbell Soup Company produced 32 different varieties of soup. The canvas depicting tomato soup was the first of the series. This exhibition at the Stable Gallery also included the famous Marilyn Monroe images.
There is no evidence that Warhol intended the canvases to be displayed in a particular order. Today, the Museum of Modern Art, in New York, displays the canvases in chronological order of which they were completed.
When Warhol began painting the cans in 1962, the Campbell Soup Company actually sent out lawyers to investigate. Campbell’s executives could not have been prepared for the tremendous impact the paintings would have on their sales. Warhol would actually sign cans of soup and then sell them as souvenirs.
In 1997, the Campbell Soup Company acknowledged the importance of the paintings, not only for the company, but for the Pop Art movement, by sponsoring the ‘Art of Soup’ Contest. The winning piece was a sheet of stamps depicting the soup cans. Each stamp showed a different flavor of Campbell’s soup. The individual responsible for the stamps was given a $10,000 check at a ceremony at the Andy Warhol Museum in Pittsburgh.
Warhol often used everyday images in his work. He believed that art was intended for all people, not just a select few. He used popular images in order to appeal to the masses. The soup can series challenges the idea that art must be creative and original. Warhol claimed that he was inspired to use the soup cans in his work because, as a child, he would eat Campbell’s soup every day. He wanted to paint something that he thought was beautiful yet something that people see every day and never really think about it. Many people believe that the Campbell’s Soup can series is responsible for shaping the Pop Art movement. His work has inspired a generation of artists to find beauty in everyday items and to see art in even the seemingly mundane.
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