Andy Warhol, born Andrew Warhola on August 6, 1928, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, was a central figure in the Pop Art movement, a genre that emerged in the United States and the United Kingdom during the mid- to late-1950s. He began his career as a commercial illustrator, which influenced his later work significantly. Warhol's art combined hand-painted techniques with mass-produced imagery and repetitive graphic innovation, which was groundbreaking at the time.
In the 1960s, Warhol started creating paintings of iconic American objects such as dollar bills, mushroom clouds, electric chairs, and celebrities like Elvis Presley and Elizabeth Taylor. His exploration of the concept of celebrity culture culminated in his famous Marilyn Diptych and his eight Elvises. Warhol's studio, The Factory, became a well-known gathering place for artists, writers, musicians, and underground celebrities. It was also the birthplace of his experiments with film and multimedia, including his famous Silver Clouds and the Exploding Plastic Inevitable.
Beyond painting, Warhol was an influential filmmaker, music producer, commercial illustrator, and writer. His screen tests are particularly notable, where he filmed various Factory regulars in minimalist conditions, creating a vast archive of underground film.
After surviving a near-fatal gunshot wound in 1968, Warhol's work became more introspective. His later art reflected his interest in other forms of media and included a series of portraits based on Polaroid photographs. He remained a prominent cultural figure until his death in 1987 due to complications from gallbladder surgery.