Campbell’s Soup I (Vegetable)

Warhol is renowned for turning the most mundane objects into commercial art. Perhaps the most recognizable example is his famous suite of paintings and screenprints of the Campbell’s soup can. He created his first Campbell’s soup paintings by projecting an image of the soup can onto a canvas, tracing it, and carefully painting in the details. Thirty-two of these paintings debuted at Ferus Gallery (Los Angeles) in 1962, a burgeoning time in Pop Art history. Introduced to a public wholly unfamilar with this new style, the paintings were initially met with raised eyebrows and skeptical commentary. Not two years later, in keeping with Warhol’s growing reputation, the soup cans became so iconic that New York socialites were wearing custom-made Campbell’s soup dresses designed by Warhol to art openings.

While Warhol’s ability to transform objects from “everyday” into “desirable” is legendary, the now-iconic soup can was in fact a reminder from Warhol’s childhood. His mother, Julia Warhola, upcycled Campbell’s soup cans into flowers and sold them door-to-door while the children trailed behind her. Thereafter, explained Warhol, he “drank” Campbell’s soup for lunch everyday for twenty years; the May 1969 cover of Esquire magazine even shows Warhol drinking a can.