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1980s

A gelatin silver print of a wide-eyed Kenny Scharf standing with Madonna, who is wearing heavy eye makeup and a printed cap. Juan Debose stands slightly behind them wearing dark sun glasses, a dark suit, and a white tie, and Keith Haring's glasses-adorned face is also visible in profile on the right side of the image.

Andy Warhol, Kenny Scharf, Madonna, Juan Dubose and Keith Haring, ca. 1983
The Andy Warhol Museum, Pittsburgh; Contribution The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Inc.
© The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Inc.
2001.2.220

Throughout his career, Warhol frequently collaborated with artists, and in 1984 he worked with young artists Jean-Michel Basquiat, Francesco Clemente, and Keith Haring. When working with Basquiat and Clemente, each artist worked independently on the canvas before passing it along, the artist’s individual marks remaining distinct and recognizable signs and logos becoming part of the compositions. Warhol also returned to hand painting with a brush in the 1980s, something he had set aside in the 1960s in favor of the silkscreen.

Ten punching bags which have been painted white with black words and line-drawings of Jesus's face hang in a row by silver chains attached to a high ceiling.

Andy Warhol, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Ten Punching Bags (Last Supper), 1985-1986
The Andy Warhol Museum, Pittsburgh; Founding Collection, Contribution The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Inc.
© The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Inc.
1998.1.791a-j

Warhol took an interest in television and produced two cable shows, Andy Warhol’s T.V. (1980–83) and Andy Warhol’s Fifteen Minutes (1985–87) for MTV. He also made television appearances on The Love Boat and Saturday Night Live, appeared in both print and television commercials, produced music videos, and modeled in fashion shows. Continuing his artistic experimentation, Warhol made a series of digital artworks in 1985 using an Amiga 1000.

White-haired Andy Warhol, wearing glasses and a purple sweater over a burgundy turtleneck, places his arm around young African-American boy wearing and NYPD badge.

Andy Warhol, Andy Warhol’s T.V. [season 2, episode 9], 1983
1” videotape, color, sound, 30 minutes
©2017 The Andy Warhol Museum, Pittsburgh, PA, a museum of Carnegie Institute. All rights reserved.

During the latter part of his career, Warhol again experimented with abstraction. His Rorschachs (1984) and Camouflages (1986) had no identifiable subject, a notable departure from his earlier works, though they were still immediately recognizable images.

An abstract painting comprised of splotches of black ink that is symmetrical across a vertical axis down the center of the painting.

Andy Warhol, Rorschach, 1984
The Andy Warhol Museum, Pittsburgh; Founding Collection, Contribution The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Inc.
© The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Inc.
1998.1.296

In 1984, Warhol was commissioned by Alexander Iolas—who also gave Warhol his first solo show in 1952—to create a series of paintings to be installed opposite the convent where Leonardo da Vinci’s The Last Supper is housed. This commission resulted in one of Warhol’s largest bodies of work, comprised of about one hundred works featuring da Vinci’s The Last Supper.

Andy Warhol's blue face stares intently out of a dark background in this print, his hair spiked up dramatically.

Andy Warhol, Self-Portrait, 1986
The Andy Warhol Museum, Pittsburgh; Founding Collection, Contribution The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Inc.
© The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Inc.
1998.1.814

Nine months before his death, Warhol created a series of iconic monumental self-portraits featuring his gaunt face, fixed gaze, and a spiky wig, some of the canvases measuring nine feet square.

Photograph of Andy Warhol's headstone in autumn. In the background, other headstones, including a large headstone with the name Warhola across the top, can be seen.

Andy Warhol's grave with Campbell's Soup can,
The Andy Warhol Museum, Pittsburgh
R2009.6

On February 22, 1987, Warhol died at New York Hospital in Manhattan due to complications following a surgery to remove his gall bladder. Warhol is buried next to his mother and father at St. John the Baptist Byzantine Catholic Cemetery in Bethel Park, a suburb south of Pittsburgh.

Religion

Warhol was born into a devout Byzantine Catholic family that attended mass at Pittsburgh’s St. John Chrysostom Byzantine Catholic Church. Later in life in New York City, Warhol regularly attended St. Vincent Ferrer to pray and to attend mass. As a child, Warhol would have seen the richly painted iconostasis during mass and learned about this wall of icons and their role in worship in Eastern Catholic churches. Warhol painted religious symbols using imagery such as Raphael’s Madonna, Leonardo da Vinci’s The Last Supper, and the cross as source material.

A black and white screen print of The Last Supper, overlaid by vertical columns of red, pink, yellow and blue color of varying lengths.

Andy Warhol, The Last Supper, 1986
The Andy Warhol Museum, Pittsburgh; Founding Collection, Contribution The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Inc.
1998.1.2126

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