- Born in pittsburgh on august 6 to julia and andrej wahola,immigrants from the village of mikova
- Andy Warhols real name was Andrew Warhola
- was an American artist and a central figure in the movement known as Pop art.
- Warhol became famous worldwide for his work as a painter, an avant-garde filmmaker, a record producer, and a author.
- Andy was a third child of his parents
- In third grade Warhol came down with St. Vitus' dance, an affliction of the nervous system causing involuntary movements which is believed to be a complication of scarlet fever.
- Because he was at times bed-ridden as a child he became an outcast among his school-mates and bonded with his mother very strongly
- When in bed he used to draw, listen to the radio and collect pictures of movie stars around his bed.
- Looking back later Warhol described the period of his sickness as very important in the development of his personality and in the forming of his skill-set and preferences
- Warhol showed an early artistic talent and studied commercial art at the School of Fine Arts at Carnegie Institute of Technology in Pittsburgh (now Carnegie Mellon University).
- In 1949, he moved to New York City and began a successful career in magazine illustration and advertising. During the 1950s, he became well-known mainly for his whimsical ink drawings of shoes for advertisements
- These were done in a loose, blotted ink style, and figured in some of his earliest showings in New York at the Bodley Gallery.
-
On June 3, 1968, Valerie Solanas shot Warhol and art critic and curator Mario Amaya at Warhol's studio.
Before the shooting, Solanas had been a marginal figure in the Factory scene. She founded a "group" called S.C.U.M. (Society for Cutting up Men) and authored the S.C.U.M. Manifesto, a separatist feminist attack on patriarchy. Solanas appears in the 1968 Warhol film, I, A Man. Earlier on the day of the attack, Solanas had been turned away from the Factory after asking for the return of a script she had given to Warhol. The script, apparently, had been misplaced.
Amaya received only minor injuries and was released from the hospital later the same day. Warhol however, was seriously wounded by the attack and barely survived (doctors opened his chest and massaged his heart to help stimulate its movement again). He suffered physical effects for the rest of his life. The shooting had a profound effect on Warhol's life and art.
Solanas was arrested the day after the assault. By way of explanation, she said that "He had too much control over my life." After the shooting, the Factory scene became much more tightly controlled, and for many this event brought the "Factory 60s" to an end.
-
Warhol died in New York City at 6:32 a.m. on February 22, 1987. According to news reports, he had been making good recovery from a routine gallbladder surgery at New York Hospital before dying in his sleep from a sudden heart attack. The hospital staff had failed to adequately monitor his condition and overloaded him with fluids after his operation, causing him to suffer from a fatal case of water intoxication, which prompted Warhol's lawyers to sue the hospital for negligence. Prior to his diagnosis and operation, Warhol delayed having his recurring gallbladder problems checked, as he was afraid to enter hospitals and see doctors.
Warhol's body was taken back to Pittsburgh by his brothers for burial. The wake was at Thomas P. Kunsak Funeral Home and was an open-coffin ceremony. The coffin was a solid bronze casket with gold plated rails and white upholstery. Warhol wore a black cashmere suit, a paisley tie, a platinum wig, and sunglasses. He was holding a small prayer book and a red rose.
