Andy Warhol

Head with Flowers

1958

© 2020 The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Inc. / Licensed by DACS, London

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Not on display

Artist: Andy Warhol 1928–1987
Medium: Ink and dye on paper
Dimensions: Image: 382 × 336 mm
frame: 680 × 550 × 28 mm
Collection: ARTIST ROOMS Tate and National Galleries of Scotland
Acquisition: ARTIST ROOMS Acquired jointly with the National Galleries of Scotland through The d'Offay Donation with assistance from the National Heritage Memorial Fund and the Art Fund 2008
Reference: AR00274

Online caption

This illustration is typical of the work for which Warhol became renowned as a commercial artist in New York from the early 1950s. It demonstrates his intuitive blotted-line technique combined with the vibrant colours of the flowers, which bring the image to life. The coloured inks were possibly added at one of Warhol’s colouring parties, hosted at the fashionable Serendipity 3 café after its opening in 1954. He would encourage his friends – some of whom would have helped him create the original illustrations - to colour the works with an inventiveness that adds to their whimsical nature. This process looks forward to the production methods of Warhol’s legendary studio, the Factory, in the 1960s.