Andy Warhol

(1928 - 1987)

Numbered 189/250 bottom right

Provenance:
Fondazione Lucio Amelio, Naples;
Prof. Ugo Majone Collection, Milan;
Private collection, Milan

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In the early eighties, thanks to a happy intuition of the Neapolitan gallerist Lucio Amelio, Andy Warhol (Pittsburgh, 1928 - New York, 1987) is in Naples. The Neapolitan environment and the dramatic events of those years linked to the earthquake inspired the father of Pop Art to realize for the city the famous series of "Vesuvius" of 1985, of which the work presented belongs. In these works the image of the volcano, one of the classic themes of Neapolitan iconography, is reproduced obsessively by Warhol, as he used to do with the Marilyn or the Campbell’s Soup, in order to exalt, in contrast to the recurring postcard depiction, the spectacular and dramatic value.

"For me the eruption is a shocking image, an extraordinary event and also a large piece of sculpture [...]. Vesuvius for me is much bigger than a myth: it is a terribly real thing": with these words Warhol describes the new series of works on the occasion of the solo exhibition at the Museo di Capodimonte in Naples in 1985.