Campbell's Soup

Andy Warhol was an American painter, printmaker, and filmmaker. He was the leading figure in the visual art movement known as "pop art." The painting to the left is one of Warhol's original 32 Campbell Soup Cans. In the year 1962, Andy released these soup cans done in synthetic polymer paint drawn onto canvases.

At first glance, the Campbell soup is not that impressive at all. You say to yourself, "exactly what's so important about it and why the hell did these 32 canvases sell for so much money?" But then you begin to look into Warhol's reasoning for the painting and you start to view the 32 soup cans much differently. Each can begins to take a new and unique shape. Andy might not have used his imagination, but the commercialized style and blandness of each painting retract their own character.

Andy was asked by a good friend of his as to the meaning of the Campbell Soup can. He replied, "I wanted to paint nothing. I was looking for something that was the essence of nothing, and that was it." The ordinariness of the soup cans emphasized the "nothingness" of the subject matter. A soup can was a soup can was a soup can.

After Andy explained the meaning of his contemporary work, the uniqueness of what he sought and what he wanted out of it is quite impressive. These 32 canvases impose a different meaning as to what is seen as "art." Andy simply took a household, recognized grocery item and turned it into a masterpiece. How that is achievable is fascinating in its own decree. Not only were the Campbell Soup Cans looked upon as a masterpiece, they also represent the timeline of Warhol's life as a contemporary artist.