USA by Warhol
Except otherwise stated, all results include the premium.
not including movie stars
See also : USA Warhol Warhol in 1962 Groups Animals
Chronology : 1960-1969 1962 1963 1964
not including movie stars
See also : USA Warhol Warhol in 1962 Groups Animals
Chronology : 1960-1969 1962 1963 1964
Special Report
Campbell's Soup
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.
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. Big Campbell's Soup Can with Can Opener (Vegetable) was sold by Christie's for $ 27.5M on May 17, 2017, lot 58 B.
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.
Andy Warhol's Campbell's Soup Cans (1961–1962) is one of the most iconic series in 20th-century art, widely regarded as a foundational work of Pop Art. It consists of 32 hand-painted canvases (each 20 x 16 inches / 50.8 x 40.6 cm), acrylic with metallic enamel paint, each depicting a different variety of Campbell's condensed soup available at the time. Warhol meticulously reproduced the familiar red-and-white label, gold medallion, and product details, turning an everyday grocery item into fine art.
Historical Context and Debut
Warhol created the series in late 1961–early 1962, transitioning from his successful career as a commercial illustrator (where he drew ads for products like soup) to fine art. He drew inspiration from consumer culture, mass production, and repetition—ideas central to Pop Art.
The breakthrough moment came in July 1962 at Ferus Gallery in Los Angeles (Warhol's first solo painting exhibition). Dealer Irving Blum displayed the 32 canvases on shelves along the walls, mimicking a supermarket aisle rather than traditional gallery hanging. This installation emphasized the works as "products" in a consumer landscape.
Initial reception was mixed—some critics mocked it as banal or charlatan, with one nearby gallery even displaying real soup cans in a pyramid as a joke. Yet it marked Pop Art's arrival on the West Coast and propelled Warhol's fame. Blum initially sold a few (including one to actor Dennis Hopper) but later bought them back to keep the set intact. In 1996, the complete series was acquired by the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York for about $15 million, where it remains a centerpiece of the collection (often displayed in a single line on shelves to echo the original Ferus installation).
Themes and Significance
Later Variations and Market
Warhol revisited the motif in prints:
The Soup Cans remain Warhol's most recognizable image, symbolizing Pop Art's embrace of the ordinary and its critique/celebration of consumerism. They continue to appear in retrospectives and define discussions of art in the age of mass media.
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.
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. Big Campbell's Soup Can with Can Opener (Vegetable) was sold by Christie's for $ 27.5M on May 17, 2017, lot 58 B.
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.
Andy Warhol's Campbell's Soup Cans (1961–1962) is one of the most iconic series in 20th-century art, widely regarded as a foundational work of Pop Art. It consists of 32 hand-painted canvases (each 20 x 16 inches / 50.8 x 40.6 cm), acrylic with metallic enamel paint, each depicting a different variety of Campbell's condensed soup available at the time. Warhol meticulously reproduced the familiar red-and-white label, gold medallion, and product details, turning an everyday grocery item into fine art.
Historical Context and Debut
Warhol created the series in late 1961–early 1962, transitioning from his successful career as a commercial illustrator (where he drew ads for products like soup) to fine art. He drew inspiration from consumer culture, mass production, and repetition—ideas central to Pop Art.
The breakthrough moment came in July 1962 at Ferus Gallery in Los Angeles (Warhol's first solo painting exhibition). Dealer Irving Blum displayed the 32 canvases on shelves along the walls, mimicking a supermarket aisle rather than traditional gallery hanging. This installation emphasized the works as "products" in a consumer landscape.
Initial reception was mixed—some critics mocked it as banal or charlatan, with one nearby gallery even displaying real soup cans in a pyramid as a joke. Yet it marked Pop Art's arrival on the West Coast and propelled Warhol's fame. Blum initially sold a few (including one to actor Dennis Hopper) but later bought them back to keep the set intact. In 1996, the complete series was acquired by the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York for about $15 million, where it remains a centerpiece of the collection (often displayed in a single line on shelves to echo the original Ferus installation).
Themes and Significance
- Repetition and Seriality: The 32 varieties mirror assembly-line production and advertising uniformity. Warhol later said he ate Campbell's soup daily for 20 years, linking it to personal routine and everyday American life.
- High vs. Low Culture: By elevating a mass-produced commodity to art-gallery status, Warhol blurred boundaries between fine art and commercial imagery—questioning originality, aura (per Walter Benjamin), and value in a consumer society.
- Mechanical vs. Handmade: Though the images look identical, the canvases are hand-painted with subtle variations (e.g., hand-stamped fleur-de-lys patterns), contrasting with later silkscreen works that embraced full mechanical reproduction.
- Consumerism and American Identity: The cans symbolize post-WWII abundance, branding, and the democratization of culture—"art for the mass of the American people," as Warhol put it.
Later Variations and Market
Warhol revisited the motif in prints:
- Campbell's Soup I (1968, 10 screenprints)
- Campbell's Soup II (1969)
The Soup Cans remain Warhol's most recognizable image, symbolizing Pop Art's embrace of the ordinary and its critique/celebration of consumerism. They continue to appear in retrospectives and define discussions of art in the age of mass media.
1962 Coca-Cola
Intro
In 1962, Warhol's art focuses on the American consumer society synthesized in four themes: the dollar, Marilyn, the soup cans and the bottles of Coca-Cola.
Coming from the advertising, he now stands out completely. The Campbell's soup cans have an extraordinary feature : the box is singled in the image, with no added text and nothing to embellish. The models differ only by their labels.
The artist turns advertising into derision. He painted the same year a Campbell's can torn to be destroyed. This remarkable indicator of the artistic intention of Warhol has been sold for $ 11.7M by Christie's on May 9, 2006, despite its small size, 51 x 41 cm.
For Warhol, the Coca-Cola bottle in a single model with no variant is the common point between all Americans without any social distinction. The US President, Liz Taylor and the observer of the art of Warhol see and use this object in the same way. It is a symbol of equality. At the same time, Warhol is also studying the soup cans which he stages in incredible positions with dimensions similar to those of humans.
Equality is socially too important for joking, and the bottle of Coca-Cola, even when oversized, remains standing with the utmost seriousness. For this reason, variations are not appropriate and this bottle is the rarest among the top iconic symbols of the first year of Warhol.
The early Coca-Colas by Warhol are made singly by hand in black, without recourse to the silkscreen.
Soup and coke were linked in the mind of Warhol. A simple watercolored drawing, 60 x 45 cm, also made in 1962, shows the can upside down over the neck of the bottle. It was sold for $ 2.8M by Sotheby's on May 15, 2007.
Coming from the advertising, he now stands out completely. The Campbell's soup cans have an extraordinary feature : the box is singled in the image, with no added text and nothing to embellish. The models differ only by their labels.
The artist turns advertising into derision. He painted the same year a Campbell's can torn to be destroyed. This remarkable indicator of the artistic intention of Warhol has been sold for $ 11.7M by Christie's on May 9, 2006, despite its small size, 51 x 41 cm.
For Warhol, the Coca-Cola bottle in a single model with no variant is the common point between all Americans without any social distinction. The US President, Liz Taylor and the observer of the art of Warhol see and use this object in the same way. It is a symbol of equality. At the same time, Warhol is also studying the soup cans which he stages in incredible positions with dimensions similar to those of humans.
Equality is socially too important for joking, and the bottle of Coca-Cola, even when oversized, remains standing with the utmost seriousness. For this reason, variations are not appropriate and this bottle is the rarest among the top iconic symbols of the first year of Warhol.
The early Coca-Colas by Warhol are made singly by hand in black, without recourse to the silkscreen.
Soup and coke were linked in the mind of Warhol. A simple watercolored drawing, 60 x 45 cm, also made in 1962, shows the can upside down over the neck of the bottle. It was sold for $ 2.8M by Sotheby's on May 15, 2007.
1
(3)
2012 SOLD for $ 57M by Christie's
The idea of multiples is already another key of the world of Warhol. Coca-Cola (3), casein on cotton 176 x 137 cm, has exactly the same figure as (4) but in a smaller size. (3) was sold for $ 57M from a lower estimate of $ 40M by Christie's on November 12, 2013, lot 27.Hand painted pre silkscreen Coca-Cola by Warhol. Compare opus (4), sold for $ 35M by Sotheby's on November 9, 2010, lot 12 vs opus (3) sold for $ 57M by Christie's on November 12, 2013, lot 27 more expensive despite being smaller.
The two works in question are part of Andy Warhol's pivotal early 1962 series of four hand-painted, pre-silkscreen Coca-Cola bottle paintings (often referred to with opus numbers [1] through [4]). These mark a key transition in Warhol's career toward Pop Art, featuring stark, black-and-white depictions of a single Coca-Cola bottle (based on period advertisements), executed by hand in a cool, impersonal style before he adopted mechanical silkscreening for repetition and mass imagery.
Art auction prices for blue-chip works like these are driven more by factors beyond size, including:
Estimated execution dates for the two works:
Both Coca-Cola [3] (opus 3) and Coca-Cola [4] (also known as Large Coca-Cola, opus 4) are dated 1962 in standard art historical records, auction catalogues (Christie's and Sotheby's), the Warhol catalogue raisonné (The Andy Warhol Catalogue Raisonné: Paintings and Sculpture 1961–1963), museum listings (e.g., Crystal Bridges), and scholarly sources.The series of four single-bottle Coca-Cola paintings spans late 1961 to summer 1962:
The two works in question are part of Andy Warhol's pivotal early 1962 series of four hand-painted, pre-silkscreen Coca-Cola bottle paintings (often referred to with opus numbers [1] through [4]). These mark a key transition in Warhol's career toward Pop Art, featuring stark, black-and-white depictions of a single Coca-Cola bottle (based on period advertisements), executed by hand in a cool, impersonal style before he adopted mechanical silkscreening for repetition and mass imagery.
- Opus (4) — titled Coca-Cola [4] (also called Large Coca-Cola): Sold at Sotheby's New York on November 9, 2010 (Contemporary Art Evening Auction, lot 12) for $35M.
- Medium: Acrylic, pencil, and Letraset on canvas.
- Dimensions: 81 3/4 x 56 3/4 in. (207.6 x 144.1 cm) — the largest in the series.
- It was described as the final and monumental version in the series, with some mechanical elements (Letraset for text) foreshadowing silkscreen works. Provenance included early galleries and a 1983 Christie's sale.
- Opus (3) — titled Coca-Cola [3]: Sold at Christie's New York on November 12, 2013 (Post-War and Contemporary Evening Sale, lot 27) for $57M ; estimate $40M–60M).
- Medium: Casein on cotton (or canvas in some references).
- Dimensions: 69 3/8 x 54 in. (176.2 x 137.2 cm) — noticeably smaller than opus (4).
- It was highlighted as one of the earliest and most defining in the series, with a smooth, hard-edged execution, minimal brushwork, and some pentimenti (e.g., painted-out "Standard" and "King Size" text). Provenance included Warhol's studio and collector S.I. Newhouse, Jr.
Art auction prices for blue-chip works like these are driven more by factors beyond size, including:
- Market timing and conditions: The 2010 sale occurred during a post-financial-crisis recovery phase for the art market, while 2013 saw stronger demand and higher overall prices in the contemporary sector, with ultra-high-net-worth collectors aggressively pursuing iconic Pop Art pieces. Warhol's market was heating up further by 2013.
- Provenance and ownership history: Coca-Cola [3] had strong, direct ties (from Warhol's studio to prominent collectors like S.I. Newhouse and later the Mugrabi family), which can enhance perceived prestige. It had been in a private collection for nearly two decades, adding freshness and rarity to the auction appearance.
- Historical and critical positioning: Catalogues and scholarship often position Coca-Cola [3] as a breakthrough work — one of the first truly "cool," impersonal, hard-edged single-bottle images, representing Warhol's shift away from Abstract Expressionism toward Pop's machine-like objectivity. Coca-Cola [4] is described as a slightly larger reworking or second version of [3], with minor compositional tweaks (e.g., cropping of the logo) but less as the absolute pivotal piece. Some sources note [3] as more "pure" in its hand-painted execution without added Letraset elements.
- Auction house dynamics and bidding competition: Christie's 2013 sale benefited from intense bidder interest (including major collectors), pushing it to the high end of estimates. Sotheby's 2010 sale exceeded its $20–25M estimate but didn't reach the same fever pitch relative to market growth by 2013.
- Overall Warhol market escalation: By 2013, top Warhol prices were climbing rapidly (e.g., other major works setting records), and single iconic images like these Coke bottles were seen as foundational to his oeuvre.
Estimated execution dates for the two works:
Both Coca-Cola [3] (opus 3) and Coca-Cola [4] (also known as Large Coca-Cola, opus 4) are dated 1962 in standard art historical records, auction catalogues (Christie's and Sotheby's), the Warhol catalogue raisonné (The Andy Warhol Catalogue Raisonné: Paintings and Sculpture 1961–1963), museum listings (e.g., Crystal Bridges), and scholarly sources.The series of four single-bottle Coca-Cola paintings spans late 1961 to summer 1962:
- The first two (often referred to as [1] and [2]) are more gestural/abstract and were executed in late 1961 or early 1962.
- Coca-Cola [3] is positioned as the breakthrough "cool," hard-edged, impersonal version — painted early 1962 (likely winter/spring 1962). Auction descriptions (e.g., Christie's 2013 catalogue) describe it as painted in early 1962, marking Warhol's shift to a near-mechanical style before full silkscreen adoption.
- Coca-Cola [4] is explicitly the last in the series, described as a slightly larger reworking or second version of [3]. It was painted sometime after [3], in the summer of 1962 (per Christie's and Sotheby's catalogues, as well as references in the catalogue raisonné). This places its execution in approximately June–August 1962.
- Opus (3): Early 1962 (most likely Q1–Q2 1962).
- Opus (4): Summer 1962 (likely mid-to-late summer, as the final one before Warhol moved to repeated silkscreened bottles like Green Coca-Cola Bottles in summer 1962).
2
(4)
2010 SOLD for $ 35M by Sotheby's
Coca-Cola (4), acrylic on canvas 208 x 144 cm, is the largest painting done on this theme in period. It was sold for $ 35M from a lower estimate of $ 20M by Sotheby's on November 9, 2010, lot 12.
1962 One Dollar Bills
2009 SOLD for $ 44M by Sotheby's
What is more repetitive in everyday life than a banknote? At least, everyone wants it so. What could more easily attract the attention of an American middleman than his $ 1 ticket?
There is no doubt that Andy Warhol loved dollars, not just to fill his pockets but mainly as an undeniable symbol of modern America. He was also busy to create his own legend. Stories about his inspiration on this theme are certainly apocryphal.
On July 1, 2015, Sotheby's listed a wide selection of dollar paintings made by Warhol throughout his career, at first in the form of images of bills and later by more or less fanciful representations of the sign.
In early 1962 One Dollar Bill (silver certificate) is the gigantic cut down image of the front side of a one dollar bill. This casein and pencil on linen, 132 x 182 cm, was the first artwork made by Warhol on this theme and his only dollar painted entirely by hand. It is also contemporary with the series painted by hand of the variations on the soup cans. One Dollar Bill was sold for £ 21M, lot 24.
March - April 1962 is Warhol's breakthrough phase. He then operates at all scales the fruitful idea of multiples, for which he is helped by the silkscreen printing technique in two complementary ways : separation of similar works with variations of colors, and juxtaposition of identical patterns on the same work.
The monumental 200 One Dollar Bills, 203 x 234 cm, showing 200 front sides in twenty rows of ten notes each without interval was sold for $ 44M from a lower estimate of $ 8M by Sotheby's on November 11, 2009. The image, unspectacular on the web, is shared by AuctionPublicity.
Grok thought from an ArtHitParade tweet :
There is no doubt that Andy Warhol loved dollars, not just to fill his pockets but mainly as an undeniable symbol of modern America. He was also busy to create his own legend. Stories about his inspiration on this theme are certainly apocryphal.
On July 1, 2015, Sotheby's listed a wide selection of dollar paintings made by Warhol throughout his career, at first in the form of images of bills and later by more or less fanciful representations of the sign.
In early 1962 One Dollar Bill (silver certificate) is the gigantic cut down image of the front side of a one dollar bill. This casein and pencil on linen, 132 x 182 cm, was the first artwork made by Warhol on this theme and his only dollar painted entirely by hand. It is also contemporary with the series painted by hand of the variations on the soup cans. One Dollar Bill was sold for £ 21M, lot 24.
March - April 1962 is Warhol's breakthrough phase. He then operates at all scales the fruitful idea of multiples, for which he is helped by the silkscreen printing technique in two complementary ways : separation of similar works with variations of colors, and juxtaposition of identical patterns on the same work.
The monumental 200 One Dollar Bills, 203 x 234 cm, showing 200 front sides in twenty rows of ten notes each without interval was sold for $ 44M from a lower estimate of $ 8M by Sotheby's on November 11, 2009. The image, unspectacular on the web, is shared by AuctionPublicity.
Grok thought from an ArtHitParade tweet :
- The post announces the November 2009 Sotheby's auction sale of Andy Warhol's 1962 silkscreen "200 One Dollar Bills" for $43.7 million, a dramatic bidding war that underscored the era's booming art market.
- Created early in Warhol's Pop Art career, the piece repeats dollar bill images to satirize consumerism and mass production, ironically fetching a fortune that amplified its cultural commentary.
- This transaction contributed to Sotheby's contemporary art evening total exceeding $134 million, setting a benchmark for Warhol works before later sales surpassed it.
1962 Statue of Liberty
2012 SOLD for $ 44M by Christie's
For Warhol, in 1962, all experiences, all messages are possible. His artistic language is entirely new.
The use of silkscreen ink applied to the enlargement of a trivial photograph is the decisive creative invention of Warhol. It allows the endless repetition of the same image, with a speed of execution that quickly diversifies the catalog of the artist. It is not to be considered as a print due to the variants from a completed artwork to another and also because of the finish with spray enamel and graphite.
But what does exactly want this former designer of ads? Present to the world a publicity for America, or deride its consumer society? Exalt the hope of a sheltered life, or exacerbate the futility of politics?
If there were only stars and soup cans, Warhol's message is simple. Disasters, electric chairs, car crashes put everything into question. Executed in 1962, Warhol's Statue of Liberty anticipates all the social gnashing of his art. In our world, everything is false.
The symbol is present, as in reality, off Manhattan. Warhol well knows that the multiplicity of images kills emotion. Thanks to his screen printing technique, he kills the hope of Liberty by aligning 4 rows of 6 identical images.
Warhol knows that painting is an illusory representation of the three-dimensional reality of the world. Each of the 24 units of Miss Liberty is treated in green and red like an anaglyph, but the two views are from one single postcard. The viewer with his stereoscopic glasses marvels at a false illusion of 3D due to inequality of the finish.
This canvas 198 x 206 cm was sold for $ 44M by Christie's on November 14, 2012, lot 35.
The use of silkscreen ink applied to the enlargement of a trivial photograph is the decisive creative invention of Warhol. It allows the endless repetition of the same image, with a speed of execution that quickly diversifies the catalog of the artist. It is not to be considered as a print due to the variants from a completed artwork to another and also because of the finish with spray enamel and graphite.
But what does exactly want this former designer of ads? Present to the world a publicity for America, or deride its consumer society? Exalt the hope of a sheltered life, or exacerbate the futility of politics?
If there were only stars and soup cans, Warhol's message is simple. Disasters, electric chairs, car crashes put everything into question. Executed in 1962, Warhol's Statue of Liberty anticipates all the social gnashing of his art. In our world, everything is false.
The symbol is present, as in reality, off Manhattan. Warhol well knows that the multiplicity of images kills emotion. Thanks to his screen printing technique, he kills the hope of Liberty by aligning 4 rows of 6 identical images.
Warhol knows that painting is an illusory representation of the three-dimensional reality of the world. Each of the 24 units of Miss Liberty is treated in green and red like an anaglyph, but the two views are from one single postcard. The viewer with his stereoscopic glasses marvels at a false illusion of 3D due to inequality of the finish.
This canvas 198 x 206 cm was sold for $ 44M by Christie's on November 14, 2012, lot 35.
1963 Death in America
Andy Warhol achieves fame in 1962 by collecting and repeating images of consumer items and movie stars. The effect on his own psyche is negative : he keeps the impression of being alone in facing the risk of a sudden death. His daily practice of Catholicism will never allow him to overcome this morbid terror.
The American dream is not enough to express the world. Automobile is very popular in the USA, and a symbol of freedom. Car crash claims the death of more than 100 people per day. The readers of the newspapers do not feel concerned by the horrible news and illustrations from the disaster.
Andy reacts against this social issue that hurts his Catholic devotion. In 1963 he begins his Death and Disaster themes. He re-screens the images of the most terrible car accidents. The series also includes his blame against the electric chair. He would say much later: "Nobody in America has a normal life".
The American dream is not enough to express the world. Automobile is very popular in the USA, and a symbol of freedom. Car crash claims the death of more than 100 people per day. The readers of the newspapers do not feel concerned by the horrible news and illustrations from the disaster.
Andy reacts against this social issue that hurts his Catholic devotion. In 1963 he begins his Death and Disaster themes. He re-screens the images of the most terrible car accidents. The series also includes his blame against the electric chair. He would say much later: "Nobody in America has a normal life".
Andy Warhol's 1963 Disaster Series (Death and Disaster)
1963 marked a pivotal expansion of Andy Warhol's Death and Disaster series (often called simply the Disaster series), which he initiated in late 1962 and continued through 1965–67. This body of work—comprising around 70 paintings—shifted Warhol's focus from consumer icons (Soup Cans, Coke Bottles) and celebrity glamour (Marilyns begun in late 1962) to the grim realities of death, tragedy, and catastrophe as reported in tabloid newspapers, police photos, and media. Using photo-silkscreen (his signature mechanical reproduction technique refined in 1962–63), Warhol repeated gruesome images across large canvases, creating emotional detachment and desensitization—mirroring how mass media numbs viewers to violence.
The series was first exhibited as Death in America at Galerie Ileana Sonnabend in Paris (January 1964), emphasizing American consumer culture's dark underbelly: abundance coexists with random, everyday horrors. Warhol drew from sources like the New York Mirror, Life, and Newsweek, sourcing tabloid headlines and crime-scene photos. Key themes include car crashes (the most prolific sub-motif in 1963), suicides, electric chairs, race riots, tunafish poisonings, and atomic explosions—often tied to real events but presented without narrative judgment.
Chronology and Key Developments in 1963
1963 marked a pivotal expansion of Andy Warhol's Death and Disaster series (often called simply the Disaster series), which he initiated in late 1962 and continued through 1965–67. This body of work—comprising around 70 paintings—shifted Warhol's focus from consumer icons (Soup Cans, Coke Bottles) and celebrity glamour (Marilyns begun in late 1962) to the grim realities of death, tragedy, and catastrophe as reported in tabloid newspapers, police photos, and media. Using photo-silkscreen (his signature mechanical reproduction technique refined in 1962–63), Warhol repeated gruesome images across large canvases, creating emotional detachment and desensitization—mirroring how mass media numbs viewers to violence.
The series was first exhibited as Death in America at Galerie Ileana Sonnabend in Paris (January 1964), emphasizing American consumer culture's dark underbelly: abundance coexists with random, everyday horrors. Warhol drew from sources like the New York Mirror, Life, and Newsweek, sourcing tabloid headlines and crime-scene photos. Key themes include car crashes (the most prolific sub-motif in 1963), suicides, electric chairs, race riots, tunafish poisonings, and atomic explosions—often tied to real events but presented without narrative judgment.
Chronology and Key Developments in 1963
- Early 1963: Warhol built on 1962 precursors (e.g., 129 Die in Jet! from a plane crash headline). He produced Early Serial Disasters, including initial Electric Chair paintings (from a 1950s Sing Sing photo) and Black and White Disaster variants.
- Spring–Summer 1963: Intense focus on Car Crash paintings (late 1962–early 1964, but many dated 1963). Warhol used at least six different source photos of automobile accidents, repeating mangled vehicles and bodies to explore media sensationalism and mortality. Major works include:
- Silver Car Crash (Double Disaster) (summer 1963): Double-panel (105 x 164 in. overall), repeated image of a crashed car with a lifeless body.
- Orange Car Crash Fourteen Times (1963): Two canvases (8' 9 7/8" x 13' 8 1/8"), orange ground with repeated crash scene.
- Green Car Crash (Green Burning Car I) (1963): Single-panel burning car variant.
- White Disaster (White Car Crash 19 Times) (1963): Monumental 12-foot single panel, white ground with 19 repetitions.
- Other variants: Ambulance Disaster, Burning Car series, White Burning Car Twice.
- Mid-1963: Tunafish Disaster (April 1963), from a Newsweek story on contaminated tuna killing two housewives.
- Throughout 1963: Suicides (e.g., Suicide (Purple Jumping Man), Suicide (Fallen Body) from Evelyn McHale's 1947 Empire State jump); Orange Disaster #5 (atomic/explosion theme); Race Riot precursors (fuller in 1964).
- Late 1963: Continued Electric Chair series and 5 Deaths repetitions.
- Silver Car Crash (Double Disaster) (1963): Sold for $105.4 million at Sotheby's New York, November 13, 2013—Warhol's former auction record.
- White Disaster (White Car Crash 19 Times) (1963): Sold for $85.4 million (hammer $74M + fees) at Sotheby's New York, November 16, 2022.
- Green Car Crash (Green Burning Car I) (1963): Sold for $71.7 million at Christie's New York, May 16, 2007. Other high results include variants like Orange Car Crash (institutional, e.g., MoMA) and Tunafish Disaster (multimillion private/auction sales).
1
Silver Car Crash
2013 SOLD for $ 105M by Sotheby's
On November 13, 2013, Sotheby's sold for $ 105M from a lower estimate of $ 60M Silver Car Crash (Double Disaster), a diptych 267 x 416 cm overall, lot 16.
On the left, the image is repeated fifteen times in three columns and five rows, with some variations in the shades of gray. On the right, the area is empty, as if the horrific scene had an extension inviting for the destruction of other lives and other cars. Warhol made a similar use of the diptych in some pictures of Liz.
The pale green of the Burning car and the apparent incompleteness of its sequence in the bottom right corner put this image in the direct continuity of the Silver Car Crash (Double Disaster).
Response by Grok :
Quote
ART FLAW @ART_FLAW Jan 30, 2024
| LES RECORDS DU MARCHÉ DE L'ART 30/31 | Andy Warhol, Silver Car Crash (double disaster), 1963. Adjugée pour 105,4 millions de dollars (frais compris) le 13 novembre 2013 par Sotheby’s New York. L’œuvre fut acquise anonymement. D'après les informations connues à ce jour
On the left, the image is repeated fifteen times in three columns and five rows, with some variations in the shades of gray. On the right, the area is empty, as if the horrific scene had an extension inviting for the destruction of other lives and other cars. Warhol made a similar use of the diptych in some pictures of Liz.
The pale green of the Burning car and the apparent incompleteness of its sequence in the bottom right corner put this image in the direct continuity of the Silver Car Crash (Double Disaster).
Response by Grok :
Quote
ART FLAW @ART_FLAW Jan 30, 2024
| LES RECORDS DU MARCHÉ DE L'ART 30/31 | Andy Warhol, Silver Car Crash (double disaster), 1963. Adjugée pour 105,4 millions de dollars (frais compris) le 13 novembre 2013 par Sotheby’s New York. L’œuvre fut acquise anonymement. D'après les informations connues à ce jour
- The artwork "Silver Car Crash (Double Disaster)" by Andy Warhol, sold for $105.4 million in 2013, reflects his 1963 Death and Disaster series, which used silkscreen techniques to replicate media images of car crashes, challenging societal desensitization to violence as documented in a 1962 study by sociologist David Altheide on media's role in normalizing death.
- Created at age 35, the piece’s massive 13-foot span and stark division between a chaotic crash image and a blank canvas symbolize the American Dream’s collapse, a theme supported by art historian Neil Printz’s analysis linking it to suburban nightmares, resonating with a 1960s rise in car accident deaths (over 50,000 annually in the U.S., per NHTSA data).
- Its anonymous 2013 Sotheby’s sale marks a pivotal moment in the art market, where post-1960s works began dominating high-value auctions, a shift noted in Artsy’s 2025 report on young collectors driving demand for provocative modern art, overturning the prior dominance of Old Masters.
2
White Disaster
2022 SOLD for $ 85M by Sotheby's
White Disaster, subtitled White Car Crash 19 Times, executed by Warhol in 1963, is unquestionably the culmination of his Car Crash sub-series and arguably the culmination of his Death and Disaster theme.
This work is monumental, 370 x 210 cm, requiring to be viewed from below. The next larger Car Crash items are the diptych Double Disaster (Silver Car Crash), 230 cm high with the right element left blank, sold for $ 105M by Sotheby's in 2013, and the 270 x 420 cm Orange Car Crash 19 Times kept at the MoMA.
White Disaster is made of a single image printed 19 times in 7 rows of 3, 2, 3, 3, 2, 3, 3 in a chilling irregular contour. The frames in a row are slightly overlapping. They may have been variously contrasted.
Its single image displays a crushed car with a seated dead person viewed through the side door opened by the crash. Such a clearly outlined figure in a dead position within the car is rare in the rest of the series. The dead man of the Burning car sub-series had been ejected by that crash.
White Disaster is made in silkscreen ink and graphite on primed canvas with no color pigment. It is a difference with the Silver Car Crash prepared in silver spray paint. Some other works are orange or green.
White is the most terrible choice because it reminds a newspaper and because it is the race of the dead old person. Such a disaster was so common in the USA of the 1960s that the source of the image has not been retrieved.
White Disaster was sold for $ 85M by Sotheby's on November 16, 2022, lot 114.
Response by Grok 4 :
This work is monumental, 370 x 210 cm, requiring to be viewed from below. The next larger Car Crash items are the diptych Double Disaster (Silver Car Crash), 230 cm high with the right element left blank, sold for $ 105M by Sotheby's in 2013, and the 270 x 420 cm Orange Car Crash 19 Times kept at the MoMA.
White Disaster is made of a single image printed 19 times in 7 rows of 3, 2, 3, 3, 2, 3, 3 in a chilling irregular contour. The frames in a row are slightly overlapping. They may have been variously contrasted.
Its single image displays a crushed car with a seated dead person viewed through the side door opened by the crash. Such a clearly outlined figure in a dead position within the car is rare in the rest of the series. The dead man of the Burning car sub-series had been ejected by that crash.
White Disaster is made in silkscreen ink and graphite on primed canvas with no color pigment. It is a difference with the Silver Car Crash prepared in silver spray paint. Some other works are orange or green.
White is the most terrible choice because it reminds a newspaper and because it is the race of the dead old person. Such a disaster was so common in the USA of the 1960s that the source of the image has not been retrieved.
White Disaster was sold for $ 85M by Sotheby's on November 16, 2022, lot 114.
Response by Grok 4 :
- The artwork "White Disaster [White Car Crash 19 Times]" by Andy Warhol, created in 1963 and sold for $85,350,500 at Sotheby's on November 16, 2022, represents a pivotal work in his Death and Disaster series, utilizing repetitive silkscreen imagery of a gruesome car crash to explore themes of mortality and media sensationalism in American culture.
- This sale highlights Warhol's enduring influence on the art market, where his works saw a remarkable appreciation; originally auctioned for $660,000 in 1987, it contributed to Sotheby's record-breaking 2022 contemporary art sales totaling over $314 million, driven by demand from international buyers and a resurgence in Pop Art interest.
- The piece's creation in 1963 coincided with Warhol's broader exploration of tragedy through appropriated news photographs, challenging viewers to confront desensitization to violence and disaster, a theme that has been analyzed for its psychological impact on perceptions of popular culture and its role in elevating tabloid imagery to fine art status.
3
Green Burning Car
2007 SOLD for $ 72M by Christie's
Warhol searches and finds in the newspapers the most horrible photos of car accidents. One of them is particularly atrocious. It shows an accident that just happened on a street in Seattle. Chased by the police, a car overturned and caught fire. The driver was thrown onto a stake, taking the position of a lynched man.
The worst element in this image is possibly not its violence. Just behind the dying man, a passerby quietly walks away, his hands in his pockets. Exploiting this indecency, Newsweek integrated this photo into an article on a social theme, in June 1963. We can imagine the horror that this image caused for the highly sensitive Andy.
Warhol used this specific photo four times in repeated screen prints on a white painted background and once on a gloomy pale green background. Green Car Crash, also named Green Burning Car I, is a 229 x 203 cm assembly of four columns and three rows of this image, with varied contrasts. The reading ends on the nothingness : the last block at the bottom right is blank.
Green Car Crash was sold for $ 72M by Christie's on May 16, 2007 from a lower estimate of $ 25M, lot 15.
Grok thought :
Quote
John @100anos_soledad Apr 17, 2018
Money laundering? Nah, just the end of humanity. This "wonderful" example fetched USD $73.7 million at Christie's, New York. It is pleasantly titled Green Car Crash by Andy Warhol. Go figure.
The worst element in this image is possibly not its violence. Just behind the dying man, a passerby quietly walks away, his hands in his pockets. Exploiting this indecency, Newsweek integrated this photo into an article on a social theme, in June 1963. We can imagine the horror that this image caused for the highly sensitive Andy.
Warhol used this specific photo four times in repeated screen prints on a white painted background and once on a gloomy pale green background. Green Car Crash, also named Green Burning Car I, is a 229 x 203 cm assembly of four columns and three rows of this image, with varied contrasts. The reading ends on the nothingness : the last block at the bottom right is blank.
Green Car Crash was sold for $ 72M by Christie's on May 16, 2007 from a lower estimate of $ 25M, lot 15.
Grok thought :
Quote
John @100anos_soledad Apr 17, 2018
Money laundering? Nah, just the end of humanity. This "wonderful" example fetched USD $73.7 million at Christie's, New York. It is pleasantly titled Green Car Crash by Andy Warhol. Go figure.
- The post mocks the $71.7 million 2007 Christie's sale of Andy Warhol's 1963 silkscreen "Green Car Crash (Green Burning Car I)", portraying the price as absurd or potentially money laundering amid humanity's decline.
- Warhol's piece, part of his Death and Disaster series, repeats a news photo of a fiery car wreck to critique media's numb repetition of violence, with green hues evoking detachment.
- Such auctions highlight art's role as a wealth storage vehicle; a 2013 Warhol sale later surpassed this record, fueling debates on market speculation over cultural value.
1964 Race Riot
2014 SOLD for $ 63M by Christie's
The publication by Life magazine on May 17, 1963 of photos of the repression of race riots in Alabama shocked America and the world. The United States are seen as a country in civil war. The land of racial hatred.
This report possibly had the strongest political impact in the history of the press. Kennedy understood that the reforms of laws and behaviors are inevitable. The road will be long, but civil peace will eventually settle. These photos made by Charles Moore for Associated Press are the Guernica of America.
At the same time, Andy Warhol releases the real meaning of his own artistic message. Consumerism is an artifact, advertising is a technique which however has the merit of having shown the expressive power of the multiple image.
Andy chose his press photos around the theme of death in America. The gathering of the Death and Disaster series reveals the true reason of the post mortem portrait of Marilyn. Warhol's message did not receive the same immediate impact as Guernica's. It took almost half a century before the multiples of the Car Crash are pushed toward the top position in the art of the twentieth century.
Recuperating the photos published by Life, the Race Riot by Warhol is his most political image, using a historical event in progress. He hates violence and fears death. The running Black is the victim, the dog excited to bite is the symbol of horror.
After painting a few units of the Race Riot, Warhol made in 1964 a multiple 2 x 2. In the top register, white color is the truth and blue is chilling. On the down side the double red is blood.
This quadruple Race Riot, 152 x 168 cm overall, was sold for $ 63M by Christie's on May 13, 2014.
Thoughts by Grok from an ArtHitParade tweet :
This report possibly had the strongest political impact in the history of the press. Kennedy understood that the reforms of laws and behaviors are inevitable. The road will be long, but civil peace will eventually settle. These photos made by Charles Moore for Associated Press are the Guernica of America.
At the same time, Andy Warhol releases the real meaning of his own artistic message. Consumerism is an artifact, advertising is a technique which however has the merit of having shown the expressive power of the multiple image.
Andy chose his press photos around the theme of death in America. The gathering of the Death and Disaster series reveals the true reason of the post mortem portrait of Marilyn. Warhol's message did not receive the same immediate impact as Guernica's. It took almost half a century before the multiples of the Car Crash are pushed toward the top position in the art of the twentieth century.
Recuperating the photos published by Life, the Race Riot by Warhol is his most political image, using a historical event in progress. He hates violence and fears death. The running Black is the victim, the dog excited to bite is the symbol of horror.
After painting a few units of the Race Riot, Warhol made in 1964 a multiple 2 x 2. In the top register, white color is the truth and blue is chilling. On the down side the double red is blood.
This quadruple Race Riot, 152 x 168 cm overall, was sold for $ 63M by Christie's on May 13, 2014.
Thoughts by Grok from an ArtHitParade tweet :
- This 2014 post reports Christie's sale of Andy Warhol's four-panel "Race Riot" (1964) for $62.9 million, exceeding its $45 million estimate and reflecting Warhol's top-tier market status amid a surging contemporary art boom.
- The silkscreened canvas reproduces news photos of the 1963 Birmingham civil rights riots, layering repeated images of burning buildings and police dogs to satirize media sensationalism in pop art style.
- Purchased by dealer Larry Gagosian, the lot anchored Christie's record $745 million evening sale, signaling renewed collector interest in politically resonant postwar works post-2008 recession.
Andy Warhol's Race Riot paintings (1963–1964) form a powerful and politically charged subset of his Death and Disaster series. They directly engage with the American Civil Rights Movement, specifically the violent clashes in Birmingham, Alabama, in May 1963. These works appropriate news photographs—most famously those by Charles Moore published in Life magazine—showing police dogs attacking peaceful Black civil rights demonstrators and officers using fire hoses and batons to disperse nonviolent protests against segregation.
Warhol sourced stark black-and-white press images of police dogs lunging at protesters (often Black men in suits) and enlarged/reversed them for silkscreening. He produced variations in different scales and color treatments:
Artist's motivation: Warhol was not overtly activist; he approached the subject through his signature lens of media detachment and repetition. He was fascinated by how tabloid and mainstream press sensationalized violence—turning real human suffering into consumable images. By silkscreening the photos repeatedly (with misregistrations and bold colors), he highlighted desensitization: the same horrific scene becomes pattern-like, much like repeated car crashes or electric chairs in the series. The works critique voyeurism in American society—viewers consume racial violence as spectacle—while Warhol's mechanical process creates emotional distance, forcing reflection on numbness to injustice. Some interpret this as passive commentary on white privilege (Warhol, a white artist, appropriating Black suffering), but it aligns with his interest in how media flattens tragedy into entertainment, extending his exploration of death, disaster, and consumerism.
Significance in the artist's career: These paintings stand out in the Death and Disaster series for their explicit social and racial content, rare in Warhol's oeuvre (he rarely addressed politics directly). They bridge Pop Art's surface glamour (e.g., Marilyns) with deeper critique, showing violence as another "disaster" commodified by news cycles. Created amid escalating civil rights coverage (Birmingham protests helped galvanize national support for the 1964 Civil Rights Act), they capture a pivotal historical moment. Critically, they are seen as among Warhol's most haunting political statements, influencing discussions on art, race, and media representation. Commercially, they command enormous value—e.g., the 1964 Race Riot (four panels) fetched nearly $63 million in 2014, reflecting their status as blue-chip masterpieces. They remain relevant today, echoing debates on police violence, protests (e.g., BLM), and media portrayal of racial injustice.
Compared to other Death and Disaster sub-series:
Warhol sourced stark black-and-white press images of police dogs lunging at protesters (often Black men in suits) and enlarged/reversed them for silkscreening. He produced variations in different scales and color treatments:
- Large multi-panel paintings (often diptychs or four-part canvases) with dramatic color overlays—red (symbolizing blood/violence), black (for stark contrast and mourning), mustard/yellow tones, or combinations.
- Smaller single-canvas versions and prints. Key examples include:
- Birmingham Race Riot (1964): A silkscreened work in the Whitney Museum collection, based on Moore's iconic dog-attack photo.
- Mustard Race Riot (1963): In mustard/yellow tones, held at Museum Brandhorst.
- Race Riot (1964): A four-panel acrylic and silkscreen work (red/black dominant), sold at Christie's for $62.885 million in 2014—one of Warhol's highest prices at the time.
- Little Race Riot (1964): Smaller-scale variants.
- Prints like Birmingham Race Riot from the 1964 portfolio Ten Works by Ten Painters (screenprint on paper, editioned).
Artist's motivation: Warhol was not overtly activist; he approached the subject through his signature lens of media detachment and repetition. He was fascinated by how tabloid and mainstream press sensationalized violence—turning real human suffering into consumable images. By silkscreening the photos repeatedly (with misregistrations and bold colors), he highlighted desensitization: the same horrific scene becomes pattern-like, much like repeated car crashes or electric chairs in the series. The works critique voyeurism in American society—viewers consume racial violence as spectacle—while Warhol's mechanical process creates emotional distance, forcing reflection on numbness to injustice. Some interpret this as passive commentary on white privilege (Warhol, a white artist, appropriating Black suffering), but it aligns with his interest in how media flattens tragedy into entertainment, extending his exploration of death, disaster, and consumerism.
Significance in the artist's career: These paintings stand out in the Death and Disaster series for their explicit social and racial content, rare in Warhol's oeuvre (he rarely addressed politics directly). They bridge Pop Art's surface glamour (e.g., Marilyns) with deeper critique, showing violence as another "disaster" commodified by news cycles. Created amid escalating civil rights coverage (Birmingham protests helped galvanize national support for the 1964 Civil Rights Act), they capture a pivotal historical moment. Critically, they are seen as among Warhol's most haunting political statements, influencing discussions on art, race, and media representation. Commercially, they command enormous value—e.g., the 1964 Race Riot (four panels) fetched nearly $63 million in 2014, reflecting their status as blue-chip masterpieces. They remain relevant today, echoing debates on police violence, protests (e.g., BLM), and media portrayal of racial injustice.
Compared to other Death and Disaster sub-series:
- Like car crashes or electric chairs, they use repetition and tabloid sources to numb horror.
- Unlike anonymous accidents or state executions, these depict targeted racial violence, adding urgency and specificity.
- They parallel the Marilyn series in using celebrity/media icons (here, the "icon" is the news photo itself), but replace glamour with brutality.
Andy Warhol's Race Riot Paintings (1963–1964) Compared to His Electric Chair Paintings
Warhol's Race Riot paintings (also known as Birmingham Race Riot or Mustard Race Riot variants) and Electric Chair paintings both belong to his seminal Death and Disaster series (1962–1967+), where he used photo-silkscreen to repeat tabloid and news images of violence, tragedy, and mortality. Created in the early-to-mid 1960s amid escalating social and political turmoil in the US, these works share the series' core mechanics—mechanical repetition, color variations, detachment, and critique of media desensitization—but diverge significantly in subject matter, imagery, emotional charge, political implications, and formal treatment.
Shared Characteristics in the Death and Disaster Series
Both sub-series are highly valued within the Death and Disaster oeuvre—Race Riots for rare political edge (scarce large examples), Electric Chairs for iconic stillness (e.g., Big Electric Chair variants in multimillions). As of March 18, 2026, they remain benchmarks for Warhol's dark Pop—critiquing American society's underbelly through repetition. Race Riots engage civil rights history more directly; Electric Chairs offer existential reflection on state-sanctioned death.In summary: Race Riots are visceral, human-centered, politically charged depictions of racial violence in motion; Electric Chairs are cold, empty, institutional symbols of finality—both desensitize through repetition, but one confronts social injustice head-on while the other contemplates anonymous mortality.
Warhol's Race Riot paintings (also known as Birmingham Race Riot or Mustard Race Riot variants) and Electric Chair paintings both belong to his seminal Death and Disaster series (1962–1967+), where he used photo-silkscreen to repeat tabloid and news images of violence, tragedy, and mortality. Created in the early-to-mid 1960s amid escalating social and political turmoil in the US, these works share the series' core mechanics—mechanical repetition, color variations, detachment, and critique of media desensitization—but diverge significantly in subject matter, imagery, emotional charge, political implications, and formal treatment.
Shared Characteristics in the Death and Disaster Series
- Source material and process: Both draw from real, widely circulated photographs (newspapers, magazines like Life). Warhol enlarged, cropped, and silkscreened them repetitively onto painted grounds (acrylic base), often with misregistration, fading, or color shifts to create emotional numbness through multiplicity.
- Themes of desensitization and media spectacle: Repetition turns horror into pattern—viewers become inured to violence, mirroring how tabloids and TV saturate society with tragedy.
- Timing and context: Race Riots emerged in 1963 (May–June), directly responding to Birmingham events (May 3–5, 1963), overlapping with early Electric Chair works (1963 onward, tied to NY's last executions in 1963). Both reflect the "flip side" of American abundance—consumer glamour vs. systemic violence.
- Ambiguity and detachment: Warhol's deadpan style avoids explicit judgment, leaving interpretation open (e.g., no gore in Electric Chair; no heroic framing in Race Riots).
- Subject matter and imagery:
- Race Riots (1963–1964): Explicitly depict human suffering and racial/political violence. Primary source: Charles Moore's Life magazine photos (May 17, 1963 double-page spread) of Birmingham civil rights protests—white police officers with dogs attacking nonviolent Black demonstrators (including children), high-pressure hoses, beatings. Warhol cropped/reversed/enlarged these, focusing on aggressive dogs, batons, and protesters (often Black figures encircled or attacked). Key works: Birmingham Race Riot (1964 screenprint, Whitney/Met), Mustard Race Riot (1963 diptych, Museum Brandhorst—silkscreened panel + blank mustard monochrome), Red Race Riot, Pink Race Riot. Human figures dominate—bodies in motion, power imbalance visible.
- Electric Chair (1963–1967+): Stark, impersonal institutional death. Source: Single black-and-white photo of an empty electric chair in Sing Sing Prison's death chamber (with dangling straps and "SILENCE" sign). No victims, no action—only the device itself, repeated in isolation. Key works: Lavender Disaster (1963), Big Electric Chair (1967–68 variants), Little Electric Chairs (small-scale 1964–65), 1971 print portfolio. Absence of figures creates eerie stillness and anticipation ("waiting for the next victim").
- Political and social charge:
- Race Riots: Warhol's most overtly political works in the series. They address systemic racism, civil rights struggles (Birmingham as turning point), police brutality, and media framing ("riot" title adopts police/news rhetoric, critiquing how nonviolent protests were labeled violent). The human element—Black victims vs. white authority—makes the violence immediate and racialized. Critics note ambiguity: Warhol's detachment can seem complicit or observational, but repetition highlights how media normalizes injustice.
- Electric Chair: More abstract and existential—critiques capital punishment (NY's abolition in 1963), state violence, and institutional anonymity. The empty chair evokes memento mori (Renaissance still life of death), silence, and inevitability. Less tied to specific social movements; more universal commentary on mortality and authority's cold machinery.
- Formal treatment and emotional tone:
- Race Riots: Dynamic, chaotic energy—figures in conflict, dogs lunging, motion implied. Often diptychs or multi-panels (e.g., Mustard Race Riot pairs silkscreen with blank canvas for contrast/emptiness). Colors vivid (red, pink, mustard) against black-and-white sources, heightening drama and urgency.
- Electric Chair: Static, silent, contemplative—solitary object in empty room. Colors (lavender, pink, orange, blue-green) often garish against somber subject, creating eerie detachment. Blank canvases in some versions reinforce "silence" and absence.
- Scale and presentation:
- Race Riots: Larger multi-panel works (e.g., Mustard diptych nearly 4x3 meters); small panels grouped.
- Electric Chair: Mix of large single panels (Big Electric Chair) and intimate Little Electric Chairs; often solitary or repeated in grids.
Both sub-series are highly valued within the Death and Disaster oeuvre—Race Riots for rare political edge (scarce large examples), Electric Chairs for iconic stillness (e.g., Big Electric Chair variants in multimillions). As of March 18, 2026, they remain benchmarks for Warhol's dark Pop—critiquing American society's underbelly through repetition. Race Riots engage civil rights history more directly; Electric Chairs offer existential reflection on state-sanctioned death.In summary: Race Riots are visceral, human-centered, politically charged depictions of racial violence in motion; Electric Chairs are cold, empty, institutional symbols of finality—both desensitize through repetition, but one confronts social injustice head-on while the other contemplates anonymous mortality.
1964 Sixteen Jackies
2021 SOLD for $ 34M by Sotheby's
In 1964 Warhol desired to be acknowledged as a filmmaker.
His series of Jackies is a still report recuperating eight different images in the press coverage from the arrival in Dallas to President Kennedy's funeral in Washington DC. The artist reused these images as emotional portraits without displaying their original context.
The individual screenprints were serially made on 50 x 40 cm before being assembled as composite items. Their structure as grids, friezes, diptychs and triptychs enabled them to be reconstructed from one installation to the next.
This work was executed in 1964, the year after the death of the President, as a good example of the application of Death and Disaster in US life, to be also compared with the 1962 Men in her Life starring Liz Taylor, sold for $ 63M by Phillips de Pury in 2010. 24 Multiplied Jackies were exhibited in Philadelphia in October 1965.
Three colors were selected. The painted blue and the unpainted black prints express the sadness of the new widow while the painted gold was used as a tribute dominating the very first exhibited 4 x 4 assembly.
A Sixteen Jackies was sold by Christie's for $ 15.7M on November 15, 2006, lot 37, and for $ 34M by Sotheby's on November 15, 2021, lot 12. It is made of 16 canvases from the Philadelphia exhibition for an overall size of 206 x 165 cm.
This 4 x 4 grid is using six images in respectively 4, 3, 3, 3, 2 and 1 examples, equally mixing eight blue and eight black and white reproductions without the rare gold variants.
A Sixteen Jackies in the same overall format was sold for $ 20.2M by Sotheby's on May 10, 2011, lot 21. Assembled by the consignor before 2001, it uses 7 of the 8 images through three panels in black and white, three painted in gold and the other ten painted in blue.
A 4 x 4 Sixteen Jackies was made by Warhol using a unique picture in the 16 panels. This assembly had been first exhibited in Toronto in 1969. Made in black and white and similar contrast settings, it is the only unpainted 4 x 4 example.
The source of this specific image was taken during the funeral. Her expression is stoic under a dark organdie veil which is canceled by the artist through an overexposure of the printing. A man is standing behind her from the second row of the procession..
This silkscreen ink on linen 203 x 163 cm was sold for $ 26M by Christie's on November 9, 2023, lot 31 B. Please watch the video shared by the auction house.
His series of Jackies is a still report recuperating eight different images in the press coverage from the arrival in Dallas to President Kennedy's funeral in Washington DC. The artist reused these images as emotional portraits without displaying their original context.
The individual screenprints were serially made on 50 x 40 cm before being assembled as composite items. Their structure as grids, friezes, diptychs and triptychs enabled them to be reconstructed from one installation to the next.
This work was executed in 1964, the year after the death of the President, as a good example of the application of Death and Disaster in US life, to be also compared with the 1962 Men in her Life starring Liz Taylor, sold for $ 63M by Phillips de Pury in 2010. 24 Multiplied Jackies were exhibited in Philadelphia in October 1965.
Three colors were selected. The painted blue and the unpainted black prints express the sadness of the new widow while the painted gold was used as a tribute dominating the very first exhibited 4 x 4 assembly.
A Sixteen Jackies was sold by Christie's for $ 15.7M on November 15, 2006, lot 37, and for $ 34M by Sotheby's on November 15, 2021, lot 12. It is made of 16 canvases from the Philadelphia exhibition for an overall size of 206 x 165 cm.
This 4 x 4 grid is using six images in respectively 4, 3, 3, 3, 2 and 1 examples, equally mixing eight blue and eight black and white reproductions without the rare gold variants.
A Sixteen Jackies in the same overall format was sold for $ 20.2M by Sotheby's on May 10, 2011, lot 21. Assembled by the consignor before 2001, it uses 7 of the 8 images through three panels in black and white, three painted in gold and the other ten painted in blue.
A 4 x 4 Sixteen Jackies was made by Warhol using a unique picture in the 16 panels. This assembly had been first exhibited in Toronto in 1969. Made in black and white and similar contrast settings, it is the only unpainted 4 x 4 example.
The source of this specific image was taken during the funeral. Her expression is stoic under a dark organdie veil which is canceled by the artist through an overexposure of the printing. A man is standing behind her from the second row of the procession..
This silkscreen ink on linen 203 x 163 cm was sold for $ 26M by Christie's on November 9, 2023, lot 31 B. Please watch the video shared by the auction house.
1964 Most Wanted Men No. 11
2018 SOLD for $ 28.4M by Christie's
In 1964 the World's Fair of New York is dedicated to progress, like any other. Several artists are invited to decorate the exterior wall of the New York State pavilion. This will be the first and last public commission attributed to Andy Warhol, the rest of the story shows why.
Warhol's concerns run counter to the required optimism. He had started in the previous year his Death and Disaster series showing off the bad side of America. He cannot install his electric chairs or car crashes on this wall that will be seen by the public. He does not choose the empty chair but the portrait of the people who could go up on it.
A friend gave him a printed police booklet with pictures of the thirteen most wanted bandits and a short categorization of their crime. Most of the criminals have their two police photos, face and profile, with the Ben-day dots. Andy makes giant silkscreens 125 x 97 cm from these small images.
He assembles his mural in five rows of five columns that form a disturbing set with a total of 22 actual images. The viewer can play to find which figures are shown only once. Any couple of photos is either joined or scattered. The three positions at the bottom right are empty according to the style that he had previously applied in the Car Crashes.
After discussion with the organizers, Andy covers all of that with an opaque layer of silver paint. The wall picture so disappears just before the opening of the Fair. Several hypotheses have been proposed. I would say that the FBI could not let an artist do the police work.
A little later in the same year, Warhol prepares from his preserved silkscreens the portraits of the bandits both as a single image and as a diptych, using the same numbering as the police notebook. A diptych of the Most Wanted Men No. 11, John Joseph H., Jr, was sold for $ 28.4M by Christie's on May 17, 2018, lot 15 B. Please watch the video shared by the auction house.
In this sinister face book, the robber John Joseph is one of the most disturbing because he appears as an ordinary man, young and handsome. The author of a gang attack with armed hands in a liquor store, he offended the police by escaping before his trial. A gangster remains a man : if he is caught, should he be executed?
Grok thought :
Quote
Christie's @ChristiesInc Apr 6, 2018
Warhol's Most Wanted on view at Christie's #London this weekend. #AndyWarhol's 'Most Wanted Men No. 11, John Joseph H., Jr' will be displayed alongside his iconic 'Double Elvis [Ferus Type]' portrait. The works will be offered in #NewYork on 17 May https://bit.ly/2uQVcFL
Thought for 18s
Warhol's concerns run counter to the required optimism. He had started in the previous year his Death and Disaster series showing off the bad side of America. He cannot install his electric chairs or car crashes on this wall that will be seen by the public. He does not choose the empty chair but the portrait of the people who could go up on it.
A friend gave him a printed police booklet with pictures of the thirteen most wanted bandits and a short categorization of their crime. Most of the criminals have their two police photos, face and profile, with the Ben-day dots. Andy makes giant silkscreens 125 x 97 cm from these small images.
He assembles his mural in five rows of five columns that form a disturbing set with a total of 22 actual images. The viewer can play to find which figures are shown only once. Any couple of photos is either joined or scattered. The three positions at the bottom right are empty according to the style that he had previously applied in the Car Crashes.
After discussion with the organizers, Andy covers all of that with an opaque layer of silver paint. The wall picture so disappears just before the opening of the Fair. Several hypotheses have been proposed. I would say that the FBI could not let an artist do the police work.
A little later in the same year, Warhol prepares from his preserved silkscreens the portraits of the bandits both as a single image and as a diptych, using the same numbering as the police notebook. A diptych of the Most Wanted Men No. 11, John Joseph H., Jr, was sold for $ 28.4M by Christie's on May 17, 2018, lot 15 B. Please watch the video shared by the auction house.
In this sinister face book, the robber John Joseph is one of the most disturbing because he appears as an ordinary man, young and handsome. The author of a gang attack with armed hands in a liquor store, he offended the police by escaping before his trial. A gangster remains a man : if he is caught, should he be executed?
Grok thought :
Quote
Christie's @ChristiesInc Apr 6, 2018
Warhol's Most Wanted on view at Christie's #London this weekend. #AndyWarhol's 'Most Wanted Men No. 11, John Joseph H., Jr' will be displayed alongside his iconic 'Double Elvis [Ferus Type]' portrait. The works will be offered in #NewYork on 17 May https://bit.ly/2uQVcFL
Thought for 18s
- This 2018 Christie's promotional post highlights a London preview of Andy Warhol's 1964 diptych 'Most Wanted Men No. 11, John Joseph H., Jr.', depicting a young NYPD-wanted robber, paired with his 1963 'Double Elvis [Ferus Type]', the artist's sole full-length Elvis portrait from the film Flaming Star.
- The 'Most Wanted Men' series, originally commissioned for the 1964 New York World's Fair, faced controversy when Warhol offered to obscure the mugshots in gold leaf at the request of fair president Robert Moses, leading to its destruction; this surviving diptych sold for $28.4 million at the May 17 auction.
