Fans of 20th-century art will be given one more reason to head to London in spring 2020, when a major retrospective of Andy Warhol’s work opens at the Tate Modern. Simply named Andy Warhol and running from 12 March to 6 September 2020 in the new Eyal Ofer Galleries, the exhibition will be curated in partnership with Cologne’s Museum Ludwig.
Born to Slovakian immigrant parents in Pittsburgh in 1928, Andrew Warhola (his birth name) was to become the leading figure in the mid-20th century movement known as Pop Art. Incorporating the reproducible images and techniques of popular media and advertising, his work is seen as some of the most significant commentary on consumerism and celebrity culture to come from the American art world. Trained as a commercial illustrator, his artistic output included painting, photography, sculpture and film, but he’s probably best known for ground-breaking silk-screen prints such as Campbell’s Soup Cans and Marilyn Diptych, both created in 1962.
The Tate show will allow Warhol devotees and American art–lovers to see these and other iconic works up close. They’ll also be able to interact with his floating, helium-filled Silver Clouds and experience his experimental multimedia work, the Exploding Plastic Inevitable, first performed with the Velvet Underground and Nico in New York in 1966. Lesser known works including paintings from the 1970s and experimental mass-media productions will also be exhibited.
The Tate Modern itself is an icon in the world of contemporary art, occupying the monolithic former Bankside power station on the south bank of the River Thames. At its heart is the cavernous 35x152-metre Turbine Hall, a stunning exhibition space leading to smaller spaces in every direction. While permanent exhibitions can be accessed for free (with a suggested donation), tickets to Andy Warhol are £22, and can be pre-booked online.
