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Famous Paintings

Andy Warhol's three most famous paintings are Campbell's Soup Cans, Marilyn Diptych, and Eight Elvises. Campbells' Soup Cans is the most iconic of Warhol's paintings, and his repetetive prints of Elvis Presley are easily recognizeable as his pieces. However, Andy Warhol's Marilyn Diptych carries the most meaning with it. Although not Warhol's intention when creating the piece, art collectors Burton and Emily Tremaine suggested that two separate canvases already made by Warhol be combined to make a diptych (two paintings, usually made for an alterpice, connected by a hinge allowing the piece to close). Warhol liked the idea, and Marilyn Diptych has ever since been considered a representation of Marilyn Monroe's public image, the overstaurated, colorful side, verses her private life and evetually her death, the black-and-white side.

What was the deal with Warhol's film career?

While Andy Warhol is primarily known for his iconic pop art, he produced over one hundred films during his career. Some titles of his inclue Empire, Sleep, Kiss, and Poor Little Rich Girl. His film career, to this day, is still overshadowed by his pop art.

Warhol's Complicated Death

During Andy Warhol's film career, he was confronted by Valerie Solanas, an actress and self-made playwright. Not to mention, an avid feminist. Over the Years, Solana's developed severe paranoia and a serious grudge against the artist. This started when she created a manifesto for a theoretical organization called Society for Cutting Up Men (SCUM). The manifesto details Solanas' idea of a utopian society in which the male sex has been completely eradicated. Solanas was the only supporter of her society. She also wrote a play which she tried to get Warhol to produce. He declined, but compromised by giving her a role in his upcoming film, I, a Man. Solanas later tried to convince Warhol to publish her SCUM Manifesto, but, once again, to no avail. What does any of this have to do with Andy Warhol's death? Well, Solanas wanted revenge. After she became paranoid that Warhol would try to publish her works as his own, she visited his office... with two guns. Solanas shot Warhol nearly fatally. Immediate surgery and a medical corset saved his life. The issue, though, is that Warhol developed an intense fear and hatred of hospitals due to the whole ordeal. Nineteen years after the incident, Warhol died of Cardiac Arrest after a gallbladder surgery which he had avoided for as long as he could.