99 Andy Warhol Quotes Explaining Why He Was the Godfather of Contemporary Art
With his bizarre, trademark straight blonde hair and dark glasses he was the most glamorous pop cult icon of 20th century’s art scene. Considered the godfather of Contemporary art, Andy Warhol was an American artist, film director and a pioneer of the Pop art movement. His works in a variety of media and art forms created a new realm of artistic expression combining advertising, and celebrity culture. He is best known for his photographic silkscreen prints of Marilyn Monroe and Campbell’s Soup Cans. The following Andy Warhol quotes will reveal his complicated personality, explaining why he was the godfather of contemporary art.
Born in 1928, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Warhol was the most successful commercial illustrator in New York, before exhibiting his work in art galleries and gaining sudden recognition as an eccentric and controversial artist. His art studio, “The Factory”, became the hot spot for intellectuals, celebrities, artists and New York’s high class.
Andy Warhol died in 1987 from cardiac arrest. The Andy Warhol Museum, in his hometown of Pittsburgh, holds the most extensive collection of his works and is the largest single-artist museum in the United States.
Warhol rose from poverty to a legend. By turning everyday, banal items and celebrities into art he objectified the ambient socio-cultural reality of his time, exposing a superficial culture of materialism with shallow values. The mass production of his quirky art prints and portraits of celebrities transcended the barriers between high art and mainstream pop culture aesthetics, providing a social commentary and a mirror for reflecting modern life.
As an expression of praise to this adroit cultural icon, here we have curated for you his most inspirational quotes. Share them with loved ones and friends in order to motivate them! Use them as captions to add an avant-garde aesthetic to your Instagram and social media posts! Ruminate on them to gain insight and transform your perspective of the world!
Table of Contents
- Short Andy Warhol Quotes To Caption Your Instagram Photos
- Andy Warhol’s Advice to New Artists
- Andy Warhol’s Quotes About Art
- Andy Warhol Quotes on Life and Love
- Andy Warhol Quotes About People and Society
- Andy Warhol’s Quotes About Himself
Short Andy Warhol Quotes To Caption Your Instagram Photos
A collection of short but insightful one-liner captions to spritz a note of sophistication and increase engagement on your Instagram and social media posts!
- In the future, everybody will be world famous for fifteen minutes. Andy Warhol
- They always say time changes things, but you actually have to change them yourself. Andy Warhol
- People should fall in love with their eyes closed. Andy Warhol
- I never fall apart, because I never fall together. Andy Warhol
- I always notice flowers. Andy Warhol
- My idea of a good picture is one that’s in focus and of a famous person. Andy Warhol
- Isn’t life a series of images that change as they repeat themselves? Andy Warhol
- As soon as you stop wanting something, you get it. Andy Warhol
- I think everybody should be nice to everybody. Andy Warhol
- If you can convince yourself that you look fabulous, you can save yourself the trouble of primping. Andy Warhol
- Beauty is a sign of intelligence. Andy Warhol
- The idea is not to live forever, it is to create something that will. Andy Warhol
- Everything is more glamorous when you do it in bed anyway. Andy Warhol
- The best thing about a picture is that it never changes, even when the people in it do. Andy Warhol
- Why do people spend their time being sad when they could be happy? Andy Warhol
- Buying is much more American than thinking. Andy Warhol
- I always hear myself saying, ‘She’s a beauty!’ or ‘He’s a beauty!’ or ‘What a beauty!’ but I never know what I’m talking about. Andy Warhol
- It’s not what you are that counts, it’s what they think you are. Andy Warhol
- Kiss me with your eyes. Andy Warhol
- You have to be willing to get happy about nothing. Andy Warhol
- The mystery was gone but the amazement was just starting. Andy Warhol
- I like boring things. Andy Warhol
- The idea of waiting for something makes it more exciting. Andy Warhol
- I’m really afraid to feel happy because it never lasts. Andy Warhol
- I believe in low lights and trick mirrors. Andy Warhol
- History books are being re-written all the time. Andy Warhol
- Just because people throw it out and don’t have any use for it, doesn’t mean it’s garbage. Andy Warhol
- But I always say, one’s company, two’s a crowd, and three’s a party. Andy Warhol
- Security breeds stagnation. Andy Warhol
- It doesn’t matter how slowly you go so long as you do not stop. Andy Warhol
- If everyone isn’t beautiful, then no one is. Andy Warhol
- I don’t know where the artificial stops and the real starts. Andy Warhol
Andy Warhol’s Advice to New Artists
His legacy is indisputable, influencing numerous known artists such as Jeff Koons, Damien Hirst, Takashi Murakami, Julia Wachtel, Rudolf Stingel, and Gerhard Richter. The following quotes by Warhol have been hand-picked as invaluable advice and guidance to new artists.
- Don’t pay any attention to what they write about you. Just measure it in inches. Andy Warhol
- Don’t think about making art, just get it done. Let everyone else decide if it’s good or bad, whether they love it or hate it. While they are deciding, make even more art. Andy Warhol
- You have to do stuff that average people don’t understand because those are the only good things. Andy Warhol
- They always say new art is bad for a while, that’s the risk – that’s the pain you have to have for fame. Andy Warhol
- You need to let the little things that would ordinarily bore you suddenly thrill you. Andy Warhol
Andy Warhol’s Quotes About Art
Andy Warhol was far ahead of his time. His works explored hidden meanings and symbolisms within objects, celebrities and events, managing to change the perception of the world. For Warhol art was a social narration to be found everywhere, in everyday things and moments!
- Art is what you can get away with. Andy Warhol
- Most people in America think Art is a man’s name. Andy Warhol
- I’m afraid that if you look at a thing long enough, it loses all of its meaning. Andy Warhol
- I just do art because I’m ugly and there’s nothing else for me to do. Andy Warhol
- An artist is somebody who produces things that people don’t need to have. Andy Warhol
- You know it’s ART, when the check clears. Andy Warhol
- I’d asked around 10 or 15 people for suggestions. Finally, one lady friend asked the right question, ‘Well, what do you love most?’ That’s how I started painting money. Andy Warhol
- So a ‘pop art’ should be flattering, in the sense that it’s a reflection of a positive part of the person’s personality. Andy Warhol
- Being good in business is the most fascinating kind of art…but making money is art and working is art and good business is the best art. Andy Warhol
- Once you ‘got’ Pop, you could never see a sign again the same way again. And once you thought Pop, you could never see America the same way again. Andy Warhol
- I see art in everything. Your shoes. That car. This coffee cup. It’s art if you see it as art. The best art are those dime novels. People will put those books in a museum one day. Artists will make paintings of them. They’re beautiful. And for everyone. That’s how I want my art to be. Andy Warhol
Andy Warhol Quotes on Life and Love
Using his art as a critique on modern life, Warhol provided a new, inspired way of looking at the world by inviting us in a mindset of appreciation for common things we often overlook. Daily life is interesting, everything around us has its own beauty!
- Everybody must have a fantasy. Andy Warhol
- I wonder if it’s possible to have a love affair that lasts forever. Andy Warhol
- People need to be made more aware of the need to work at learning how to live because life is so quick and sometimes it goes away too quickly. Andy Warhol
- Sometimes people let the same problem make them miserable for years when they could just say, “So what.”
“My mother didn’t love me.” So what.
“My husband won’t ball me. So what.
“I’m a success but I’m still alone.” So what.
I don’t know how I made it through all the years before I learned how to do that trick. It took a long time for me to learn it, but once you do, you never forget.
Andy Warhol - People’s fantasies are what give them problems. If you didn’t have fantasies you wouldn’t have problems because you’d just take whatever was there. Andy Warhol
- Sometimes the little times you don’t think are anything while they’re happening turn out to be what marks a whole period of your life. Andy Warhol
- And your own life while it’s happening to you never has any atmosphere until it’s a memory. Andy Warhol
- Since people are going to be living longer and getting older, they’ll just have to learn how to be babies longer. Andy Warhol
- Fantasy love is much better than reality love. Never doing it is very exciting. The most exciting attractions are between two opposites that never meet. Andy Warhol
- The biggest price you pay for love is that you have to have somebody around, you can’t be on your own, wich is always so much better. Andy Warhol
- When people are ready to, they change. They never do it before then, and sometimes they die before they get around to it. You can’t make them change if they don’t want to, just like when they do want to, you can’t stop them. Andy Warhol
- People sometimes say that the way things happen in the movies is unreal, but actually, it’s the way things happen to you in life that’s unreal. The movies make emotions look strong and real, whereas when things really do happen to you, it’s like you’re watching television – you don’t feel anything. Andy Warhol
Andy Warhol Quotes About People and Society
Brave, bold and true to his values, Andy Warhol was a non-conformist that defied boundaries and societal stereotypes. The following quotes will allow you a glimpse into the thoughts of this charismatic individual about people and society.
- Sex is the biggest nothing of all time. Andy Warhol
- A picture means I know where I was every minute. That’s why I take pictures. It’s a visual diary. Andy Warhol
- Being born is like being kidnapped. And then sold into slavery. Andy Warhol
- I have Social Disease. I have to go out every night. If I stay home one night I start spreading rumours to my dogs. Andy Warhol
- Every song has a memory; every song has the ability to make or break your heart, shut down the heart, and open the eyes. Andy Warhol
- It would be very glamorous to be reincarnated as a great big ring on Liz Taylor’s finger. Andy Warhol
- People do tend to avoid new realities; they’d rather just add details to the old ones. It’s as simple as that. Andy Warhol
- James Dean was the damaged but beautiful soul of our time. Andy Warhol
- I never think that people die. They just go to department stores. Andy Warhol
- Everyone winds up kissing the wrong person goodnight. Andy Warhol
- People are always so boring when they band together. You have to be alone to develop all the idiosyncrasies that make a person interesting. Andy Warhol
- I can never get over when you’re on the beach how beautiful the sand looks and the water washes it away and straightens it up and the trees and the grass all look great. I think having land and not ruining it is the most beautiful art that anybody could ever want to own. Andy Warhol
- During the 1960s, I think, people forgot what emotions were supposed to be. And I don’t think they’ve ever remembered. Andy Warhol
- I like to be the right thing in the wrong place and the wrong thing in the right place. Being the right thing in the wrong place and the wrong thing in the right place is worth it because something interesting always happens. Andy Warhol
- Dying is the most embarrassing thing that can ever happen to you, because someone’s got to take care of all your details. Andy Warhol
- I suppose I have a really loose interpretation of ‘work,’ because I think that just being alive is so much work at something you don’t always want to do. Andy Warhol
Andy Warhol’s Quotes About Himself
It was well known that Warhol was fascinated by wealth, glamour and Hollywood celebrities. Although he described himself as a fame hungry socialite and deeply superficial, the truth is that he was an extremely intelligent and perceptive individual with a charming and prolific personality.
- I am a deeply superficial person. Andy Warhol
- I wake up every morning. I open my eyes and think: here we go again. Andy Warhol
- If you want to know all about Andy Warhol, just look at the surface of my paintings and films and me, and there I am. There’s nothing behind it. Andy Warhol
- I had a lot of dates but I decided to stay home and dye my eyebrows. Andy Warhol
- I never read. I just look at pictures. Andy Warhol
- When I got my first television set, I stopped caring so much about having close relationships. Andy Warhol
- I never wanted to be a painter; I wanted to be a tap dancer. Andy Warhol
- I always run into strong women who are looking for weak men to dominate them. Andy Warhol
- When I did my self-portrait, I left all the pimples out because you always should. Pimples are a temporary condition and they don’t have anything to do with what you really look like. Always omit the blemishes – they’re not part of the good picture you want. Andy Warhol
- I love Los Angeles. I love Hollywood. They’re beautiful. Everybody’s plastic, but I love plastic. I want to be plastic. Andy Warhol
- I don’t want to be smart, because being smart makes you depressed. Andy Warhol
- The only time I ever want to be something is outside a party so I can get in. Andy Warhol
- I’m not afraid to die; I just don’t want to be there when it happens. Andy Warhol
- The nicer I am, the more people think I’m lying. Andy Warhol
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