Tidal Basin

Warhol was renowned to carry a sketchbook – whether it was people, places, or things he was drawing, Warhol’s predilection allowed him to capture the world around him in real time. A sketch from the late 1940s (exhibited at the Andy Warhol Museum in Pittsburgh in 2015) shows Warhol’s drawn rendering of a church in Pittsburgh; his sketchbooks from his first trip abroad in 1956 are rife with temples and other structures; a portfolio from the 1980s reflects his Cologne Cathedral.

To that end, Warhol was commissioned to design and create the cover of Washington Post Magazine in 1984. He created two images for the cover, putting his signature style to work on Washington D.C.’s Tidal Basin and the Washington Monument. The final unique screenprint of the Tidal Basin was selected and utilized on the cover of the magazine on August 14, 1983.

Year: 1983
Medium: Graphite on paper
Size: 31.25 x 23.5 in (79.4 x 59.7 cm)
Frame size: 39.25 x 31.75 in (99.7 x 80.6 cm)
Price on request

Provenance:
Estate of Andy Warhol (stamped)
The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts (stamped)
Long-Sharp Gallery

Authenticated by the Authentication Board of The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts (stamp on verso), Foundation archive number on verso in pencil, initialed by the person who entered the works into The Foundation archive.

Andy Warhol’s original graphite on paper work, Tidal Basin, dated 1983, shown here in a metallic frame

Andy Warhol’s original graphite drawing on paper, Tidal Basin, shown framed and alongside a six-foot figure for scale.

Andy Warhol’s original graphite on paper drawing, Tidal Basin, dated 1983, shown here unframed.

Provenance & Authentication

Andy Warhol Resources

Other Graphite Works

View this work in virtual exhibit

Back to Andy Warhol

[1] Nicholas Chambers, “Andy Warhol: adman,” in Adman: Warhol Before Pop, ed. Nicholas Chambers (Sidney & Pittsburgh: Art Gallery of New South Wales & The Andy Warhol Museum, 2017), 18.