In third grade, Warhol had Sydenham's chorea (also known as St. Vitus' Dance), the nervous system disease that causes involuntary movements of the extremities. It is believed to be a complication of scarlet fever which causes skin pigmentation blotchiness.
At times when he was confined to bed, Warhol drew, listened to the radio and collected pictures of movie stars around his bed.
Warhol later described this period as very important in the development of his personality, skill-set and preferences. When Warhol was thirteen, his father passed in an accident.
As a teenager, Warhol won a Scholastic Art and Writing Award. Post graduating from high school, his intentions were to study art education at the University of Pittsburgh in the hope of becoming an art teacher.
However. his plans changed and he enrolled in the Carnegie Institute of Technology (now Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh), where he studied commercial art.
During his time there, Warhol joined the campus Modern Dance Club and Beaux Arts Society. He also served as art director of the student art magazine, Cano, illustrating a cover in 1948 and a full-page interior illustration in 1949.
Later that same year, he moved to New York City, New York and began a career in magazine illustration and advertising.
As an advertisement illustrator in the 1950s, Warhol used assistants to increase his productivity. However, he initially pursued a successful career as a commercial illustrator.
After exhibiting his work in several galleries in the late 1950s, he began to receive recognition as an influential and controversial artist.
His later works explore the relationship between artistic expression, advertising, and celebrity culture that flourished by the 1960s, and span a variety of media, including painting, silkscreening, photography, film, and sculpture.
Some of his best-known works include the silkscreen paintings Campbell's Soup Cans (1962), Marilyn Diptych (1962), and the multimedia events known as the Exploding Plastic Inevitable (1966–67).
His New York studio, The Factory, became a well-known gathering place that brought together distinguished intellectuals, drag queens, playwrights, Bohemian street people, Hollywood celebrities, and wealthy patrons.
Collaboration would remain a defining (and controversial) aspect of his working methods throughout his career; this was particularly true in the 1960s.
One of the most important collaborators during this period was American poet, photographer, filmmaker, curator and archivist Gerard Malanga. He assisted Warhol with the production of silkscreens, films, sculpture, and other works at The Factory.
Other members of Warhol's Factory crowd included Freddie Herko, Ondine (born Robert Olivo), Ronald Tavel, Mary Woronov, Billy Name, (known professionally as William George Linich) and former Warhol superstar Brigid Berlin (from whom Warhol apparently got the idea to tape-record his phone conversations).
Warhol later promoted a collection of personalities known as Warhol superstars, and is credited with coining the widely used expression "15 minutes of fame."
During the 1960s, Warhol also groomed a retinue of bohemian and counterculture eccentrics upon whom he bestowed the designation "Superstars". This was a clique of New York City personalities promoted by Warhol during the 1960s and early 1970s.
These personalities appeared in his artworks and accompanied him in his social life, epitomizing his famous dictum, "In the future everyone will be famous for fifteen minutes". Warhol would simply film them, and declare them "superstars".
Most notably, these included American actress and fashion model Edie Sedgwick, American actress, writer, singer and Warhol superstar Jackie Curtis, and German singer, songwriter, musician, model, and actress Christa Päffgen (known by her stage name Nico). She also sang on three songs of the Velvet Underground's debut album.
These people (as well as others) all participated in the Factory films, while some remained friends with Warhol until his death.
Between 1963 and 1968, Warhol had made more than sixty films, plus some five hundred short black-and-white "screen test" portraits of Factory visitors.
Of these films, Warhol is best known for producing and directing the 1965 American black and white experimental film 'Vinyl'.
'Vinyl' tells of a greaser named Victor (Gerald Malanga) who undergoes a torturous "rehabilitation" designed to cure his violent streak.
Co-starring Sedgwick (Extra #2), Ondine (Scum Baby), and Tosh Carillo (The Doctor), the film features such songs as "Nowhere to Run" by Martha and the Vandellas, "Tired of Waiting for You" by The Kinks, "The Last Time" by The Rolling Stones and "Shout" by The Isley Brothers.
The film is an early adaptation of English writer and composer Anthony Burgess' 1962 dystopian satirical black comedy fiction novel A Clockwork Orange.
Nico also had roles in several films, most notably Federico Fellini's 1960 Italian black and white drama/comedy-drama film 'La Dolce Vita'. She had played a minor role as herself.
This also included Warhol's three-and-a-half hour 1966 American black and white/color experimental underground film 'Chelsea Girls'. This was his first major commercial success after a long line of avant-garde art films (both feature length and short).
Shot in split screen throughout,(and co-directed by Paul Morrissey), the film was Warhol's first major commercial success after a long line of avant-garde art films (both feature-length and short).
Morrissey was an American film director, screenwriter, and producer. He was best known for his long association with Warhol and the Factory scene during the 1960s and early 1970s.
Another important figure in the New York underground art/cinema world, most notably, was American filmmaker, actor and pioneer of underground cinema Jack Smith ('Flaming Creatures').
Many films from this world premiered at the New Andy Warhol Garrick Theatre (and 55th Street Playhouse) of the 1960s, revealing Warhol's connections to a diverse range of artistic scenes during this time.
Warhol also worked across a wide range of media—painting, photography, drawing, and sculpture. In addition, he was a highly prolific filmmaker.
Warhol has been the subject of numerous retrospective exhibitions, books, and feature and documentary films.
The Andy Warhol Museum in his native city of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. It holds an extensive permanent collection of art and archives, is the largest museum in the United States dedicated to a single artist.
Many of his creations are very collectible and highly valuable. The highest price ever paid for a Warhol painting is $105 million for a 1963 canvas titled "Silver Car Crash (Double Disaster)"; his works include some of the most expensive paintings ever sold.
In the late 1960s, he managed and produced the American experimental rock band The Velvet Underground. Afterwards, Warhol founded Interview magazine.
He later authored numerous books, including The Philosophy of Andy Warhol (From A to B and Back Again (1975) and Popism: The Warhol Sixties (1980).
Warhol was homosexual. He lived openly as a gay man before the gay liberation movement. Interviewed in 1980, he indicated that he was still a virgin.
On the 1997 list of TV Guide's 100 Greatest Episodes of All-Time, Warhol appeared as himself in the one-hour 200th Episode of The Love Boat (1977–1987).
Also known as Hidden Treasure/Picture from the Past/Ace's Salary, the episode ranked in at #82 on the list. It aired on October 12, 1985.
Nicknamed Drella, Warhol passed in Manhattan, New York City, New York at 6:32 a.m. on February 22, 1987. He was 58.
According to news reports, he had been making a good recovery from gallbladder surgery at New York Hospital before dying in his sleep from a sudden post-operative irregular heartbeat.
Prior to his diagnosis of arrhythmia and his operation, Warhol delayed having his recurring gallbladder problems checked, as he was afraid to enter hospitals and see doctors.
Afterwards, his family sued the hospital for inadequate care, saying that the arrhythmia was caused by improper care and water intoxication. The malpractice case was quickly settled out of court; Warhol's family received an undisclosed sum of money.
A practicing Roman Catholic, Warhol regularly volunteered at homeless shelters in New York City, particularly during the busier times of the year, and described himself as a religious person.
In addition, a body of religious-themed works was found posthumously in his estate.
A 2009 article in the English-language weekly magazine-format newspaper The Economist described Warhol as the "bellwether of the art market".
Warhol had been active from 1963–1987.
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