Why it’s important to remember that Andy Warhol was working class

Written by Ananda Pellerin, CNNLondonFrom Marilyn Monroe to Muhammad Ali, Andy Warhol’s portraits of the rich and famous are some of the most recognizable works of 20th-century American art. Seen as a leader of the Pop Art movement, Warhol was also notorious for mingling with celebrities. Salvador Dalí, Bob Dylan, Grace Jones and David Bowie were associated with him and his famous Factory, the silver-lined studio where creative types of all genders and sexualities partied. But beyond the downtown glamour, Warhol’s working-class beginnings had a profound influence on his art and outlook, a fact that is explored in a newly reopened exhibition, “Andy Warhol,” at Tate Modern in London. Warhol’s success as an artist is often attributed to his ability to bring advertising motifs — soda pop bottles, Brillo boxes, celebrity faces — into the gallery world. And on display are some of his most famous works featuring consumer products, including the paintings “Green Coca-Cola Bottles” and “100 Campbell’s Soup Cans,” both made in 1962.