Pop Art, short for Popular Art, takes its name from the everyday, ubiquitous images that it depicts—those familiar items and figures encountered in daily life. This radical style thrived in the 1950s and 1960s, especially in the United States.

At the heart of Pop Art stands Andy Warhol, the movement’s quintessential leader, often crowned the "King of Pop." Warhol’s most iconic works—such as his Campbell’s soup cans and portraits of celebrities like Elizabeth Taylor—are emblematic of his technique of using commercial printing methods to mass-produce images of popular culture.

Warhol's talent as an artist, filmmaker, photographer, and publisher made him a household name, but it was his public persona—shaped by the controversy surrounding his art, his activities, and his appearance—that cemented his place in history. His private life, however, stood in stark contrast to the wild, drug-fueled public existence he led at his New York studio, The Factory. Born Andrew Warhola in Pittsburgh in 1928, Warhol hailed from a family of Ruthenian immigrants from what is now Slovakia. His mother, a constant presence in his life, both lived with him and collaborated on some of his projects.

Warhol famously promised everyone “15 minutes of fame.” While his own fame far surpassed that, his life was cut short by a botched gallbladder surgery, complicated by the lasting damage from a gunshot wound that nearly killed him in 1968. Janetta Rebold Benton, distinguished professor of art history at Pace University, traces Andy Warhol’s life and profound impact on modern art and culture, delving into how his revolutionary approach broke with all previous art movements and expanded the definition of art itself.

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