Andy Warhol, Flowers, Lithograph, 1964

Andy Warhol's Flowers made their first appearance on the New York art scene in 1964 when they were exhibited at the Leo Castelli Galley. meeting with enormous success.

Flowers in the Pop Art version are among the artist's most evocative and crowd-pleasing works, but also the last in which the artist uses the technique of painting.

For Warhol to work on images with a natural character was something he had never experienced before, in fact it seems that the idea for this choice was suggested to him by his friend Henry Geldzahler, then curator of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The latter in fact went to Warhol's studio and noticed how the Factory was full of works depicting Marilyn and works of commercial products, such as Campbell soups and Coca Cola. He then decided to advise the eccentric Pop Artist to use something different.

Inspired by Hibiscus flowers, in Flowers Andy Warhol turns nature into a protagonist for the first time, using an unusual style. The Pop Artist combines impressionist and abstract techniques resulting in unprecedented images, quite different from previous ones inspired by celebrities and consumerism.

This Lithograph is numbered 2238/2400. The CMOA stamp is a guarantee for A. Warhol's multiples. CMOA stands for Carnegie Museum Of Art, a museum in Pittsburgh, A. Warhol's hometown, to which the artist donated 60 of his subjects, granting multiples (of each 60 x 60 subject such as Mao Tse Tung, Flowers and Marilyn Monroe) in limited runs of 2400 pcs. Because of this, the availability of such lithographs began to be difficult; in fact, these numbered subjects were in demand all over the world.

Fun fact: To make Flowers, Warhol made use of a cover photo taken of Hibiscus Flowers from Modern Photography magazine. Of course, that photo served him solely as a cue; in fact, to make Flowers, Warhol made a great deal of graphic changes to the image that made the original flowers unrecognizable. The cover shot had been taken by Patricia Caulfield, who claimed the right to the photo and demanded compensation from Warhol, who was forced by the court, to give her two of his works, as well as a percentage of future revenues.


Dimensions: Frame L. 67 cm x H. 67 cm ; Lithograph 62 x 62 cm