In 1961 a still unknown Andy Warhol desired to be represented by Leo Castelli but the assistant of the boss was not convinced. Andy accepted the suggestion from a friend to execute a series of paintings featuring the Campbell's soup because it is an artefact that everybody sees everyday.
That first series will ultimately include eleven paintings in casein on linen prepared over a line drawing in graphite. The success encouraged Andy to prepare other popular themes and change to his faster technique using the silkscreen.
Big Campbell's Soup Can with Can Opener (Vegetable) was sold for $ 24M including premium by Christie's in New York on November 10, 2010, lot 8. It comes back on May 17 in the same auction room, lot 58 B.
I discussed it as follows before the 2010 sale :
The Campbell's soup can, as seen by the user, plays a drama in three acts. First, it is a perfect cylinder adorned with an austere label defining its brand and its flavor selected among 32 varieties. At the end of the operation, it is a shapeless object emptied of its precious liquid, ready to be thrown without mercy into the garbage.
The intermediate act is the opening of the box. Warhol shows a can of vegetable soup with the can opener in place, ready to attack. Made in early 1962, this large size painting 183 x 132 cm is one of the most important in his prolific series of Campbell's soups.
Warhol is at that time one of the artists who want to express the real world, the real life, in the circle of Leo Castelli. Such an artwork confirms that he has already abandoned a previous intention to imitate advertising.
The first visitors to his exhibitions were amused to see a new naive. This view has proven wrong. The daily act of opening the can of soup has a complex meaning in its contradiction : it is both brutal, since it violates the integrity of the box, and ordinary and essential, because it is useless if the user cannot access the soup.
Please watch the video shared by Christie's before the 2017 sale.
SOLD for $ 27.5M including premium
That first series will ultimately include eleven paintings in casein on linen prepared over a line drawing in graphite. The success encouraged Andy to prepare other popular themes and change to his faster technique using the silkscreen.
Big Campbell's Soup Can with Can Opener (Vegetable) was sold for $ 24M including premium by Christie's in New York on November 10, 2010, lot 8. It comes back on May 17 in the same auction room, lot 58 B.
I discussed it as follows before the 2010 sale :
The Campbell's soup can, as seen by the user, plays a drama in three acts. First, it is a perfect cylinder adorned with an austere label defining its brand and its flavor selected among 32 varieties. At the end of the operation, it is a shapeless object emptied of its precious liquid, ready to be thrown without mercy into the garbage.
The intermediate act is the opening of the box. Warhol shows a can of vegetable soup with the can opener in place, ready to attack. Made in early 1962, this large size painting 183 x 132 cm is one of the most important in his prolific series of Campbell's soups.
Warhol is at that time one of the artists who want to express the real world, the real life, in the circle of Leo Castelli. Such an artwork confirms that he has already abandoned a previous intention to imitate advertising.
The first visitors to his exhibitions were amused to see a new naive. This view has proven wrong. The daily act of opening the can of soup has a complex meaning in its contradiction : it is both brutal, since it violates the integrity of the box, and ordinary and essential, because it is useless if the user cannot access the soup.
Please watch the video shared by Christie's before the 2017 sale.
SOLD for $ 27.5M including premium
La boîte de soupe qui a changé le visage de l’art du XXe siècle #AndyWarhol https://t.co/YsTsQ5qPz7 pic.twitter.com/y8fpix4Kko
— Christie's Paris (@christiesparis) April 25, 2017
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