Guns, c.1981-82, Art Print, 40 x 30 in, Andy Warhol, $27.99

Diamond Dust Shoes, 1980 (Lilac, Blue, Green), Art Print, 26 x 34 in, Andy Warhol, $27.99

Lips, Art Print, 11 x 14 in, Andy Warhol, $7.99

Daisy, c.1982 (Fuschia and Yellow), Art Print, 20 x 20 in, Andy Warhol, $17.99

10 Marilyns, 1967, Art Print, 53 x 22 in, Andy Warhol, $74.99

Daisy, c.1982 (Blue on Blue), Art Print, 20 x 20 in, Andy Warhol, $17.99

Guns, c.1981-82, Art Print, 14 x 11 in, Andy Warhol, $6.49

Ads: Life Savers, Blue, 1985, Art Print, 30 x 32 in, Andy Warhol, $27.99

Four Monkeys, Art Print, 26 x 33 in, Andy Warhol, $46.99

Butterflies, 1955, Art Print, 16 x 20 in, Andy Warhol, $17.99

Daisy, c.1982 (Crimson and Pink), Art Print, 20 x 20 in, Andy Warhol, $17.99

Shot Blue Marilyn, 1964, Art Print, 11 x 14 in, Andy Warhol, $6.49

Campbell's Soup I, 1968, Art Print, 11 x 14 in, Andy Warhol, $7.99

Green Cat, c.1956, Art Print, 11 x 14 in, Andy Warhol, $7.99

Ads: Life Savers, Pink, 1985, Art Print, 30 x 32 in, Andy Warhol, $27.99

Cow, 1976, Art Print, 21 x 34 in, Andy Warhol, $27.99

Daisy, c.1982 (Double Pink), Art Print, 36 x 26 in, Andy Warhol, $27.99

Campbell's Soup, Art Print, 24 x 30 in, Andy Warhol, $14.00   $9.98

Campbell's Soup I, 1968, Art Print, 24 x 40 in, Andy Warhol, $31.99

Dollar Sign, 1981, Art Print, 24 x 36 in, Andy Warhol, $27.99

Flower for Tacoma Dome, c.1982 (Black and Red), Art Print, 20 x 20 in, Andy Warhol, $17.99

Red Sam, c.1954, Art Print, 11 x 14 in, Andy Warhol, $6.99

Birth of Venus, Art Print, 40 x 28 in, Andy Warhol, $46.99

Birth of Venus, Art Print, 40 x 28 in, Andy Warhol, $46.99

Flowers, 1970, Art Print, 26 x 26 in, Andy Warhol, $46.99, (1 other size available)

One Blue Pussy, c.1954, Art Print, 11 x 14 in, Andy Warhol, $7.99

Mickey Mouse, Art Print, 24 x 30 in, Andy Warhol, $27.99

Ice Cream Dessert, c.1959 (Red, Pink and White), Art Print, 11 x 14 in, Andy Warhol, $7.99

Daisy, c.1982 (Blue and Red), Art Print, 20 x 20 in, Andy Warhol, $17.99

Strawberries, c.1959, Art Print, 11 x 14 in, Andy Warhol, $6.99

Andy Warhol - After the Party, Poster, 36 x 24 in, Andy Warhol, $12.99

Ice Cream Dessert, c.1959 (Red and Pink), Art Print, 11 x 14 in, Andy Warhol, $7.99

Shot Orange Marilyn, 1964, Art Print, 26 x 28 in, Andy Warhol, $27.99

Marilyn, 1967 (On Red), Art Print, 26 x 28 in, Andy Warhol, $27.99

Portrait of Maurice, Art Print, 32 x 24 in, Andy Warhol, $27.99, (1 other size available)

Flower for Tacoma Dome, c.1982 (Black and Red), Giclee Print, 40 x 40 in, Andy Warhol, $174.99

Knives, c.1982 (Silver and Black), Art Print, 14 x 11 in, Andy Warhol, $7.99

Brooklyn Bridge, 1983, Art Print, 11 x 14 in, Andy Warhol, $7.99

Jackie, 1964, Art Print, 40 x 44 in, Andy Warhol, $64.99

Campbell's Soup Can, 1965 (Green and Purple), Art Print, 11 x 14 in, Andy Warhol, $7.99

Flowers, 1970 (Red, Yellow, Orange on Blue), Art Print, 36 x 40 in, Andy Warhol, $54.99

Twelve Cars, 1962, Art Print, 26 x 32 in, Andy Warhol, $27.99

Marilyn Monroe, Black, Art Print, 26 x 26 in, Andy Warhol, $46.99

Gold Sam, c.1954, Art Print, 11 x 14 in, Andy Warhol, $6.99

Ice Cream Dessert, c.1959 (Fancy Red), Art Print, 11 x 14 in, Andy Warhol, $7.99

Campbell's Soup Can, 1965 (Blue and Purple), Art Print, 11 x 14 in, Andy Warhol, $7.99

Marilyn Monroe, Orange, Art Print, 24 x 24 in, Andy Warhol, $46.99, (1 other size available)

Marilyn Monroe, Art Print, 30 x 24 in, Andy Warhol, $13.99

Shoes, 1980, Art Print, 23 x 30 in, Andy Warhol, $46.99

Two Golden Mona Lisas, Art Print, 37 x 24 in, Andy Warhol, $46.99

Andy Warhol - Sun, Poster, 24 x 36 in, Andy Warhol, $12.99

Campbell's Soup Can, 1965 (Pink and Red), Art Print, 11 x 14 in, Andy Warhol, $7.99

Pink Sam, c.1954, Art Print, 11 x 14 in, Andy Warhol, $7.99

Brooklyn Bridge, 1983, Art Print, 28 x 30 in, Andy Warhol, $27.99

Triple Elvis, 1963, Art Print, 11 x 14 in, Andy Warhol, $6.49

Three Coke Bottles, Art Print, 24 x 32 in, Andy Warhol, $46.99

The Art of Mickey Mouse, Art Print, 24 x 30 in, Andy Warhol, $27.99

Marilyn Monroe, Green, Art Print, 38 x 38 in, Andy Warhol, $78.99

Beethoven, Pink Book, Art Print, 23 x 23 in, Andy Warhol, $46.99

Marilyn Monroe, Pink, Art Print, 26 x 26 in, Andy Warhol, $46.99

riple Elvis, 1963, Art Print, 26 x 36 in, Andy Warhol, $27.99

Four Pandas, Art Print, 26 x 33 in, Andy Warhol, $44.99

Statue of Liberty 1982, Art Print, 36 x 26 in, Andy Warhol, $27.99

Campbell's Soup Can, 1965 (Green and Red), Art Print, 24 x 40 in, Andy Warhol, $31.99

The Laster Supper, 1986, Art Print, 27 x 39 in, Andy Warhol, $78.99

Campbell's Soup Can, 1965 (Blue and Purple), Art Print, 24 x 40 in, Andy Warhol, $31.99

Marilyn Monroe, Art Print, 38 x 38 in, Andy Warhol, $74.99

Shot Blue Marilyn, 1964, Art Print, 26 x 28 in, Andy Warhol, $27.99

Mercedes W 125, 1937, Art Print, 36 x 28 in, Andy Warhol, $46.99

Jackie, 1964 (Blue), Art Print, 26 x 34 in, Andy Warhol, $27.99

Green Sam, c.1956, Art Print, 11 x 14 in, Andy Warhol, $7.99

Pine Barrens Tree Frog, Art Print, 24 x 32 in, Andy Warhol, $59.99

One Thousand and One Nights, Art Print, 35 x 17 in, Henri Matisse, $30.99

When he started painting, Andy Warhol wanted to find a niche for himself. At the time Pop Art, as it was later named, was already an experimental form used by artists as an alternative to abstract expressionism. Warhol turned to this new style where popular subjects could be part of the artist's vocabulary.

His early paintings show images taken from cartoons and advertisements, hand-painted with added paint drips. He added these drips to give his paintings a seriousness by emulating the style of the abstract expressionists that were en vogue at the time. He wanted to be taken seriously or to sell his paintings, which may have had the same meaning to Warhol. To him, part of defining a niche was defining his subject matter.

Cartoons already were being used by the artist Roy Lichtenstein, typography by Jasper Johns, and so on; Warhol wanted a distinguishing subject. His friends suggested he should paint the things he loved the most. In his signature way of taking things literally, for his first major exhibition he painted his famous cans of Campbell's Soup, which he had for lunch most of his life. Warhol loved money, so he later painted money.

He loved celebrities, so he painted them as well. From these beginnings he developed his later style and subjects. Instead of working on a signature subject matter, as he started out to do, he worked more and more on a signature style, slowly eliminating the hand-made from the artistic process. Warhol employed silk-screening; his later drawings were traced from slide projections. In other words, Warhol went from being a painter to being a designer of paintings.

At the height of his fame as a painter, Warhol had several assistants who produced his silk-screen multiples, in different versions and variations following his directions. Warhol is unusual in producing 'comic' and 'serious' works: soup cans and electric chairs. The unifying element in his work is his dead-pan Keatonesque style - artistically and personally affectless. Before this blankness, the lack of signifiers of sincerity, the viewer is forced to attempt to read behind the surface to what the 'real Andy' thinks. Is Andy horrifed by death or does he think it is funny? Are soup cans in art galleries about the cheapness of mass culture, a cynical joke about the American collector's artistic nationalism (and aim for their wallet), or his genuine love for his mother (who maternally fed him canned soup)? His withdrawal ends up being the opposite of self-effacement.

As time went on, Warhol's work became more conceptual and more reflective of art itself. His series of do-it-yourself paintings and Rorschach blots are intended as pop comments on art and what art could be. His cow wallpaper (literally, wallpaper with a cow motif) and his oxidation paintings (canvases prepared with copper paint that show oxidated urine stains) are also noteworthy in this context. Equally noteworthy is the way these works -- and their means of production -- mirrored the mores and atmosphere at Andy's New York "Factory."

Biographer Bob Colacello provides some fascinating details on Andy's "piss paintings": "Victor... was Andy's ghost pisser on the Oxidations. He would come to the Factory to urinate on canvases that had already been primed with copper-based paint by Andy or Ronnie Cutrone, who was a second ghost pisser, much appreciated by Andy, who said that the vitamin B that Ronnie took made a prettier color when the acid in the urine turned the copper green... Did Andy ever use his own urine? My diary shows that when he first began the series, in December 1977, he did... and there were many others: boys who'd come to lunch and drink too much wine, and find it funny or even flattering to be asked to help Andy 'paint.' Andy always had a little extra bounce in his walk as he led them to his studio..." ("Holy Terror - Andy Warhol Close Up," New York, Harper/Collins, 1990, p. 343).

It has been suggested that Warhol would just take images of things that were hip in his time and cover them in "Warhol gravy", but for Warhol there always was a personal relation between him and his subjects. For instance the Campbell's Soup did not only function as an illustration of commercial industry and advertisement, it was an intrinsic part of Warhol's life and memories. As a child his mother had given him this soup when he was sick, and Warhol loved it very much as an adult. For him (and for many other Americans) the soup represented a feeling of being "home" or what is often called "comfort food".

Another criterion that was important in the way Warhol chose his subjects was they had to represent a more philosophical notion and have a metaphorical quality. When Warhol painted money, he painted it because he wanted to own it - canvases filled with money. Partly his work was meant to provide him with this money (and success, fame and maybe even love). At the same time, these paintings spoke of art as a commercial commodity: the paintings of dollar bills represented monetary value as well as investments.

In this way, instead of merely depicting dollar bills, the paintings touched on notions like artistic value or as a comment on art practice. Similarly, when Warhol painted photographs of disasters in bright colors ("Red Car Crash", "Purple Jumping Man", "Orange Disaster") they pointed at the horror of the event in the picture and its media value but also at the way in which such images are trivialized by the media. By turning these "random" clippings into paintings, Warhol transformed them into monuments for personal tragedies. As such, they represent a personal experience as well as a social comment and an illustration of a time when the media grew in pertinence and relevance.