Andy Warhol

(1928 - 1987)

Numbered 117/250 at lower right

Stamp on the reverse: copyright Andy Warhol 1985 | Amelio Foundation, Institute for Contemporary Art, Naples

Printed by Rupert Jasen Smith, New York, as embossed lower right

Provenance:

Lucio Amelio Gallery, Naples;

Eugenio Buontempo Collection, Naples-Rome;

Pironti Collection, Naples

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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.