Andy Warhol's Campbell's Soup Cans are among American modern art's most iconic images. Originating as a series of thirty-two canvases in 1962, these representations of soup cans quickly garnered international acclaim for their revolutionary impact on the Pop Art movement.
Andy Warhol's Campbell's Soup Cans stand as iconic symbols of modern American art, representing a groundbreaking moment in the emergence of Pop Art. Created in 1962 as a series of thirty-two canvases, these paintings garnered international acclaim for their innovative approach to subject matter.
Displayed together in their debut exhibition, the Campbell's Soup Cans were arranged akin to products on a grocery store shelf, each canvas representing a different flavor of the well-known soup brand. Despite their apparent replication of the familiar red and white Campbell's Soup labels, subtle variations in lettering and the inclusion of hand-stamped fleur-de-lis symbols at the bottom of each can underscores the artist's intervention and add layers of complexity to the series.
Warhol's inspiration for the Campbell's Soup Cans stemmed from his own personal experiences, as he recounted his penchant for consuming the same lunch daily for over two decades. This sense of repetition and routine, both in his own life and within commercial mass culture, served as a driving force behind the creation of the series.
Initially met with skepticism and controversy, Warhol's appropriation of such a commonplace object challenged traditional notions of art and aesthetics. Campbell's Soup Cans became emblematic of Warhol's exploration of themes such as repetition, mass production, and the blurring of high and low culture.
Building upon the success of the original Paintings, Warhol further extended the reach of the Campbell's Soup imagery by producing two portfolios of screen prints in 1968. These portfolios reinforced the artist's fascination with mass-produced imagery and solidified the enduring legacy of Campbell's Soup Cans as iconic symbols of Pop Art and American consumer culture.
Andy Warhol's Campbell’s Soup Cans I and Campbell’s Soup Cans II screen print portfolios, created in 1968 and 1969, represent significant extensions of his original iconic paintings. Each portfolio comprises ten screen prints, mirroring the compositions of the paintings, and stands as among the earliest collections published through Factory Additions, a company established by Warhol for the distribution of his prints.
Utilizing the mechanical photo silk-screen process, Warhol achieved a level of precision that matched the soup cans' design and effectively eliminated any discernible traces of the artist's hand. This meticulous technique, reminiscent of commercial advertising production, served as Warhol's deliberate choice to challenge traditional notions of artistic creation and authenticity.
By appropriating the associations inherent in the medium of screen printing, Warhol compelled viewers to question the parameters of art and the role of the artist in its production. His famous declaration, "I want to be a machine," encapsulates his fascination with mechanization and mass production and his desire to transcend conventional artistic boundaries.
the Campbell’s Soup Cans screen print portfolios represent Warhol's most uniform and mechanical works, embodying his signature aesthetic and pioneering approach to art-making. This series of prints solidified screen printing as Warhol's preferred medium and cemented his status as a leading figure in the Pop Art movement.
