The Andy Warhol Museum

Home to over 4,000 videos, 900 paintings and 100 sculptures, The Andy Warhol Museum explores the pop artist’s legacy through his famous works, lesser known pieces and personal artifacts. Visitors begin on the seventh floor and descend through the museum, with each level depicting a different decade of the artist’s life.

Family portraits, his mother Julia’s passport and naturalization papers, and even her potato masher and spoon depict the artist’s years growing up in western Pennsylvania. Soon, inklings of advertisements and pop culture that shaped Warhol’s work, including the inspiration for his famous depictions of Campbell’s Soup cans, begin to emerge.

The sixth floor models the aesthetic of Warhol’s New York City studio, the Silver Factory, as visitors browse photographs of Warhol at work during the 1960s. The fifth floor features some of the artist’s silkscreen works, a technique that enabled him to reproduce images of famous figures like actress Judy Garland and golfer Jack Nicklaus.

At times stepping away from painting, Warhol channeled his creativity in different directions, as evidenced by Silver Clouds, an interactive installation on the museum’s fifth floor in which visitors become part of the art, standing amongst metallic balloons that seem to hover as they drift through the space.

Lower levels of the museum cover the 1968 attempt on Warhol’s life as well as news clippings of his 1987 death alongside personal belongings like his wigs. Before exiting the museum, visitors are presented with an image of the artist’s grave site, decorated with Campbell’s Soup cans. The couch in the lobby, situated under a photograph of  Warhol sitting on it, was from the artist’s studio and makes for a great photo opportunity. 

117 Sandusky St., Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, 412/237-8303, warhol.org