"An artist is somebody who produces things that people don't need to have."
Andy Warhol (1928-1987) is the founder of Pop Art and the most influential American artist of the twentieth century's second half. Beginning his career as one of New York's most celebrated commercial illustrators, he transitioned into fine art in the early 1960s, pioneering the use of silkscreen printing to transform the imagery of consumer culture - soup cans, celebrities, death, money - into works of enduring power and radical intent. His studio, The Factory, became the defining cultural space of the 1960s. His graphic output across three decades - screenprints, portfolios, and multiples - remains among the most sought-after works on paper in the modern and contemporary market. His works are held in the permanent collections of MoMA New York, Tate Modern London, and the Whitney Museum of American Art, among many others.