by Kacey Stapleton

Created on: September 01, 2010   Last Updated: November 16, 2010

Fame was a natural fit for Warhol.  The actual quote so often paraphrased is short.  The turn of a phrase typical of the artist’s style of making a quick point before moving on to a new concept.  “In the future, everyone will be world-famous for 15 minutes.”  By the time, Warhol made this comment as part of a 1968 exhibit at the Moderna Museet in Stockholm he was  well known for anticipating new trends in the art market.  In this Andy Warhol, was an unusual artist, his passion was not in creating works he hoped would sell, but

to be popularity itself. His works as illustrator, filmmaker, writer, as well as an artist still stand up well and draw crowds of fans to exhibits featuring his creations.

His fame centered around his ability to  transform common pop cultural images into art.  His unique insight into the price and value of gaining public recognition perhaps came from his upbringing so far outside the spotlight.  No matter what caused him to develop the idea of everyone having minutes of fame his comment coming decades before the Internet, YouTube, and shows like American Idol now borders on prophecy.

Warhol could easily have understood how the lives of the instantly famous reality stars or Internet sensations change when the eyes of the world suddenly focus on them.  Unlike many artists who are recognized only among their own community or a select group of fans Andy Warhol’s pale skin, gaunt build, and shock of white hair not to mention his name were well known to the public at large.  His rise from obscurity to celebrity status rivals any recent tales of unlikely success. 

Born to working class immigrant parents Andrew Warhola was a sickly child.  Often missing long periods of formal schooling, he spent time with his mother drawing, listening to the radio, or reading magazines and developed an interest in photography. His existence as the son of a coal miner must have seemed worlds away from the lives of the movie stars whose pictures he collected.

Yet, the young man who would change his name to Warhol was among the first in his family to attend college where he majored in pictorial design.  He moved to New York and soon found work in the very type of magazines he’d idolized as a child.  The New Yorker, Vogue, and Harper’s Bazaar all carried his unique illustrations.  Warhol’s understanding of art as a product meant his work would not only be shown in exhibits, but also in magazines, posters, billboards, and storefronts.  By the 1960’s, his was a household name. 

His famous quote regarding everyone having 15 minutes is not necessarily a promise, but perhaps more of a warning.  Warhol’s entire life right up to his death in 1987 was taken up in studying the capricious nature of consumerism.  He monitored the public’s interests or waning attention even as admirers the world over marveled at his prominence. Andy Warhol figured out from an early age how not only to get his 15 minutes, but also to keep the flame of celebrity alight. He stretched his stardom out over decades. At the time of his death, Warhol was a multimillionaire.  

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