“No one escapes the media. Media influences everyone. It’s a very powerful weapon.”

Andy Warhol

The Lounge

Connect with the BMA's Last Decade Lounge online to experience the times and culture that shaped—and were shaped—by Andy Warhol. Here’s a glimpse:

Audio Tours

Listen to Audio Tour samples narrated by rock musician Lou Reed and featuring insightful commentary by curator Kristen Hileman and others reflecting on Warhol’s final body of work.

Download the entire Audio Tour from iTunes!

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Begin your tour with a closer look at Warhol's fascinating Self-Portrait with Skull.

Andy Warhol. Self-Portrait with Skull. 1978. Collection of Anthony d'Offay. ©2010 The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Inc./Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

Learn about Warhol's monumental variations of Leonardo da Vinci's The Last Supper.

Andy Warhol. Detail. The Last Supper. 1986. Collection of The Andy Warhol Museum, Pittsburgh. ©2010 The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Inc./Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

Facebook

Join us on Facebook to share your memories and experiences of Andy Warhol, test your Warhol knowledge, and share links to art and cultural items that are “inspired by Warhol.”

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Flickr

Visit us on Flickr to peek behind-the-scenes during our Warhol wallpaper installation and don't miss the sights from The Last Decade's opening party.

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Timeline

View highlights of Andy Warhol's career, Pop Culture & World Events, 1977-1987

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1977

Studio 54 opens in New York. Warhol is a regular, along with his friends Halston, Bianca Jagger, Liza Minnelli, and other celebrities.

Elvis Presley is found dead at Graceland. Star Wars is released. President Jimmy Carter agrees to begin funding the neutron bomb, and the Nuclear-Proliferation Pact is signed by 15 countries, including the United States and the USSR.

1978

Warhol produces a number of self portraits—including Self Portrait (Strangulation), and begins work on his Shadow series, a major leap into abstraction.

Polish-born John Paul II Becomes Pope.

1979

At the request of BMW, Warhol hand paints an M1 racing car for the 24-hour Le Mans race, and continues his painting experimentation, begun with the self portraits, using silkscreen ink and acrylic on Mona Lisa.

The Shah flees Iran, and the Ayatollah Khomeini assumes power, introducing religious law and establishing a fundamentalist dictatorship. The Sony Walkman is introduced, changing music listening habits by allowing people to carry their music with them.

1980

A lifelong practicing Catholic, Warhol meets Pope John Paul II in Vatican City.

John Lennon is assassinated by Mark David Chapman, weeks after the release of his comeback album Double Fantasy with Yoko Ono. Ronald Reagan is elected 40th U.S. president, in a landslide defeat of incumbent Jimmy Carter.

1981

Warhol furthers his quest for celebrity and ties to the fashion industry by signing on with the modeling agency Zoli. 

Assassination attempts are made on Pope John Paul II and President Ronald Reagan. The first space shuttle is launched (20 years to the day after the first successful human space flight). Prince Charles and Lady Diana Spencer marry in a televised wedding watched by a global audience of over 750 million. The first PCs roll off the lines at IBM, and TIME magazine names the personal computer its “man of the year.” MTV (Music Television) debuts. A virus is identified as the cause of AIDS.

1982

Andy Warhol's T.V. begins airing on the Madison Square Garden cable channel. The series features celebrity guests, including fashion designers, models, musicians, and artists. He begins work on his Eggs paintings.

Michael Jackson's Thriller becomes the largest selling album ever. Princess Grace of Monaco dies when her car goes over a cliff in Monte Carlo.  John Belushi dies of a cocaine and heroin overdose. E.T. is released and surpasses Star Wars to become the most financially successful film to date. 

1983

Warhol is commissioned by Florentine yarn manufacturer Filpucci to create paintings using its products—the abstract Yarn paintings emerge from this commission. His celebrity also leads to a Japanese TV commercial advertising cassette tapes for global electronics company TDK.

Camcorders are introduced, making video home movies a staple of most American families. Compact discs (CDs) are introduced and quickly surpass the cassette tape and the Walkman™ in usage and popularity. The first album to be released on CD is Billy Joel’s 52nd Street.

1984

Warhol begins a collaboration with younger artists Jean-Michel Basquiat and Francesco Clemente, and their work is exhibited at the Bruno Bischofberger Gallery in Zurich, Switzerland. He also guest stars as a bartender in a music video for The Cars’ single Hello Again. 

Stonewashed jeans are introduced. The first megabit chip is made at Bell Labs—used in PCs to expand memory and speed. Apple releases the Macintosh personal computer, with a graphics-based, intuitive user interface employing icons and a mouse. 

1985

Warhol paints Absolut Warhol advertisements for Absolut Vodka and exhibits his Invisible Sculpture—consisting of a pedestal, a wall label, and the artist himself—at the nightclub Area. Andy Warhol’s Fifteen Minutes begins airing on MTV. Warhol appears as a guest star on The Love Boat and in a commercial for Diet Coke.

LIVE AID, a 16-hour worldwide “super concert," is broadcast to more than a billion viewers in 110 countries, raising $125 million for famine-stricken Africans. New Coke is introduced, but the Coca Cola Company quickly returns to its the original formula after public outcry. Nintendo home entertainment system is introduced, accompanied by the best-selling game, Super Mario Brothers. Rock Hudson becomes the first major public figure to die of AIDS. 

1986

The new studio where he’d moved in 1984 makes it possible for Warhol to begin working on a massive scale, including his Camouflage series and works based on Leonardo da Vinci’s Last Supper.

The space shuttle Challenger explodes 73 seconds into the mission, killing all seven crew members, including teacher Christa McAuliffe. At Chernobyl, Ukraine, the worst nuclear power plant accident in history raises concerns about the safety of the Soviet nuclear power industry, and nuclear power in general. The Iran Contra scandal comes to light when President Reagan publicly confirms that the U.S. secretly made a deal to sell arms to Iran in exchange for seven U.S. hostages, and to use funds from the sale to support Nicaraguan Contra rebels. 

1987

Warhol travels to Milan for the opening of the exhibition of his Last Supper paintings in a gallery across the street from Santa Maria delle Grazie, Milan, site of Leonardo da Vinci’s Last Supper fresco. Warhol is admitted to New York Hospital for gallbladder surgery and dies from post-surgical complications on February 22. He is buried near his parents in a suburban Pittsburgh cemetery.

The Black Monday stock market plunge on October 19 is the largest in Wall Street history—the Dow Jones Industrial Average plunges 508.32 points. A new treatment for HIV/AIDS is approved by the FDA and President Ronald Reagan for the first time acknowledges the HIV/AIDS epidemic, using the term "AIDS" in a public speech.

YouTube

More than 1,300 people took to the dance floor, galleries, and Last Decade Lounge at the BMA on Saturday, Oct. 30 for WARHOL LATE NIGHT. The 70s-inspired dance party featured Superflydisco, screenprinting and painting workshops, after-hours access to Warhol: The Last Decade, the world premiere of Three Andys by Single Carrot Theatre, the international phenomena Literary Death Match, cash bar, light fare, and much more. 

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