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Exhibition

Andy Warhol—From A to B and Back Again

May 19–September 2, 2019
Floor 4
Additional galleries on Floors 2 and 5

Few American artists are as ever-present and instantly recognizable as Andy Warhol (1928–1987). Through his carefully cultivated persona and willingness to experiment with non-traditional art-making techniques, Warhol understood the growing power of images in contemporary life and helped to expand the role of the artist in society. This exhibition — the first Warhol retrospective organized in the U.S. since 1989 — reconsiders the work of one of the most inventive, influential, and important American artists. Beneath the glamour of Warhol’s wide-ranging creations is a deep engagement with the social issues of his time that continue to resonate today.

Stretching across three floors of SFMOMA, featuring a dozen works unique to this museum, and building on a wealth of new materials, research, and scholarship that has emerged since the artist’s untimely death in 1987, this exhibition reveals new complexities about the Warhol we think we know, and introduces a Warhol for the 21st century.

Andy Warhol—From A to B and Back Again is organized by the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York.

Exhibition Preview

blue tone self portrait of andy warhol in sunglasses and trench coat
36 silk-screened portraits of Ehtel Scull in various colors
A comic book style print of Superman exhaling a mighty puff
a diptych of Marilyn Monroe in color and monochrome
A grid of Coca Cola bottles silk screen on linen
two monochrome mugshots of Frank B.
A portrait of Wlhelmina Ross in shades of brown, pink, red and aqua
A blue skull silk-screened on canvas
black ink blots on white linen
a collage featuring the paramount logo and basquiat sketches
Andy Warhol, Self-Portrait, 1986; Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York; gift, Anne and Anthony d’Offay in honor of Thomas Krens; © 2019 The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Inc. / Licensed by Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York.

Andy Warhol, Self-Portrait, 1963–64; Cingilli Collection; © 2019 The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Inc. / Artists Rights Society (ARS) New York

Andy Warhol, Ethel Scull 36 Times, 1963; Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; jointly owned by the Whitney Museum of American Art and The Metropolitan Museum of Art; gift of Ethel Redner Scull; © 2019 The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Inc. / Artists Rights Society (ARS) New York

Andy Warhol, Superman, 1961; private collection; courtesy of DC Comics. Superman © and ™ DC Comics. All rights reserved; © 2019 The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Inc. / Artists Rights Society (ARS) New York

Andy Warhol, Marilyn Diptych, 1962; Tate, London; © 2019 The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Inc. / Artists Rights Society (ARS) New York

Andy Warhol, Green Coca-Cola Bottles, 1962; Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; purchase with funds from the Friends of the Whitney Museum of American Art; © 2019 The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Inc. / Artists Rights Society (ARS) New York

Andy Warhol, Most Wanted Men No. 12, Frank B., 1964; The Doris and Donald Fisher Collection at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art; © 2019 The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Inc. / Artists Rights Society (ARS) New York

Andy Warhol, Ladies and Gentlemen (Wilhelmina Ross), 1975; Fondation Louis Vuitton, Paris; © 2019 The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Inc. / Artists Rights Society (ARS) New York

Andy Warhol, Skull, 1976; collection of Larry Gagosian; © 2019 The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Inc. / Artists Rights Society (ARS) New York

Andy Warhol, Rorschach, 1984; Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; purchase with funds from the Contemporary Painting and Sculpture Committee, the John I. H. Baur Purchase Fund, the Wilfred P. and Rose J. Cohen Purchase Fund, Mrs. Melva Bucksbaum, and Linda and Harry Macklowe; © 2019 The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Inc. / Artists Rights Society (ARS) New York

Jean-Michel Basquiat and Andy Warhol, Paramount, 1984–85; private collection; © 2019 The Estate of Jean-Michel Basquiat / ADAGP, Paris / ARS, New York; © The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Inc. / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

Andy Warhol, Self Portrait (in drag), 1980-82; The Brant Foundation, Greenwich, CT; © 2019 The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Inc. / Licensed by Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York.
Andy Warhol, Flowers, 1964-65; collection of Larry Gagosian; © 2019 The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Inc. / Licensed by Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York.

Watch

Andy Warhol—From A to B and Back Again Audio Tour Preview

This special "Alphabet Soup" audio guide will lead you on an alphabetical exploration of Warhol’s iconic artworks and the man behind the myth.
Listen

Andy Warhol: From A to B and Back Again

This ambitious book is the first to examine Warhol’s work in its entirety.
Learn More

National leadership support for Andy Warhol—From A to B and Back Again is provided by Kenneth C. Griffin.

Bank of America is the National Tour Sponsor.

SFMOMA leadership support is provided by Carolyn and Preston Butcher, the Mimi and Peter Haas Fund, and Helen and Charles Schwab.

Major support is provided by Doris Fisher, James C. Hormel and Michael P. Nguyen, and SFMOMA’s Collectors’ Forum.

Generous support is provided by the Breyer Family Foundation, Roberta and Steve Denning, Mary J. Elmore, Jacqueline Evans, Linda and Jon Gruber, The Hoefer Family, Mary Jo and Dick Kovacevich, Christine and Pierre Lamond, Park L. Loughlin, Sir Deryck and Lady Va Maughan, the Stuart G. Moldaw Public Program and Exhibition Fund, Deborah and Kenneth Novack, the Bernard and Barbro Osher Exhibition Fund, Lisa S. Pritzker, Katie and Amnon Rodan, Arun and Rummi Sarin, Nancy and Alan Schatzberg, Lydia Shorenstein, Dana and Jim Tananbaum, Shannon and Dennis Wong, and Kay Harrigan Woods.

This exhibition is supported by an indemnity from the Federal Council on the Arts and the Humanities.

Header image: Andy Warhol, Ethel Scull 36 Times, 1963; Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; jointly owned by the Whitney Museum of American Art and The Metropolitan Museum of Art; gift of Ethel Redner Scull; © 2019 The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Inc. / Artists Rights Society (ARS) New York