08/01/2024
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I remember Andy Warhol when I was growing up. I saw him on Fashion Television, a show that was popular in my childhood home, even though we did not care about fashion, haute couture, or anything remotely related to those things. It was that the show was so well put together that it had to be seen. Andy Warhol would occasionally be featured in this show.
His work of the Campbell’s Soup Can made him famous when he was in his pop-art phase. Before that, he did catalogue illustrations and other similar work for magazines. He did make a name for himself, but like all art, it doesn’t always appeal to everyone.
It doesn’t appeal to me.
Most of what I see in his art is something that a high school kid would do, and why would anyone pay real money for his stuff?
Apparently, people do, and he became rich and famous. Good for him.
I have known of the Andy Warhol Museum for some time now but never added it to my list of places to go. Not a fan of his work, I saw no reason to spend the money to see more of his art.
I assume that most people have a Netflix account, so it would not be unusual to believe that many may have seen the Andy Warhol documentary or at least seen it featured in Netflix’s new releases section.
We watched it.
We felt for the man and the struggles he had encountered, and even though neither my wife nor myself agreed with his art, we now have to see the museum that is in his honour. Occasionally, when we are exploring museums, we find an Andy Warhol and have a moment of joy upon discovery. It slowly grew into an obsession to see more of his works since seeing the documentary, but how to find the time?
The Andy Warhol Museum is in Pittsburgh, which is over six hours away, so it is not an afternoon trip for us. I had to add it to a trip when we had the time. I have a simple rule that helps me decide how far to drive when we are in the mood to see the world: two hours per day. Six hours away means for us to enjoy the place we will see and not spend the whole time in the car; it would be a three-day journey.
Because of my job as a bus driver, I got two weeks off for Christmas Break, and Charlene had vacation time she needed to use up, so we ventured to Washington, D.C., for a five-day trip. On the return, I made a detour to The Andy Warhol Museum.
We arrived bright and early and were the first ones in. There are seven floors of Andy Warhol’s collection of art. It is displayed in chronological order, so it was interesting to see the progression of his talent. We slowly made our way from room to room, floor to floor, taking in each artwork and reading the little blurt that may be beside the image. I was impressed by how many others would come to this museum.
We found ourselves at the final piece of art by Andy Warhol and had a sense of disappointment. We wanted to see more. We wanted to see the really famous stuff. We wanted to see the Marilyn Monroe and the Soup Can and all the other stuff that is associated when one thinks of Warhol.
I got thinking. This is a popular artist, even now, decades after his unexpected death, and those famous artworks we want to see are probably in some private art gallery. What is left is the less well-known and less famous pieces.
The museum is the proud holder of thousands of artifacts that relate to Andy Warhol. They do rotate the exhibits and do so with pride - that much is very evident. I yearned to see more, and when there was a room that showed the boxes of items they are keeping, I wanted to go through it and find my fill of Andy Warhol.
The Andy Warhol Museum is an excellent introduction to this artist who dominated his time. Combine this experience with the documentary on Netflix and the films they show at the museum, and you will be like us and want to see more of his passion.
For me, I will need to continue my travels and hope to stumble upon his collection somewhere and relish the moment.
The Andy Warhol Museum is in Pittsburgh. Find the directions on my Featured Map.
It is on the expensive side, but if you are a fan or are curious, this is the place to go.
To truly experience the museum, it will take about two hours.
There is limited street parking, but a paid parking lot across the road is very reasonably priced.
