Shop art print and framed art Campbell's Soup Can, 1965 (pink & red) by Andy Warhol

The idea behind Campbell's Soup Cans: Andy Warhol's Pop Art icon

Campbell's Soup Cans is a work of art created by Andy Warhol in 1962. It consists of 32 canvases, each measuring 50.8 cm × 40.6 cm, each depicting a variety of Campbell's brand canned soup. The idea for the series, now housed at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York, came from a suggestion by Muriel Latow, interior designer and art gallery owner, who advised Warhol to paint "something you see every day and something everyone can recognize. Something like a can of Campbell's soup". Another version of Warhol's inspiration, would be that he had consumed Campbell's soup daily since childhood, and chose this banal, familiar subject to turn into a work of art.

At this time, Pop Art was emerging, challenging the traditional boundaries between art and popular culture. Warhol, with his innovative and provocative approach, thus fits perfectly into this movement.

Campbell's Soup Cans: provocative minimalism

The work is presented as a series of 32 canvases, arranged in a grid, mimicking the display of soup cans on the shelves of a supermarket. Each canvas represents a variety of Campbell's soup, reproduced with almost photographic precision using the silkscreen technique. The style is deliberately flat, without depth or perspective, and the colors are bright and saturated, faithfully echoing the aesthetic of commercial packaging. This apparent simplicity and almost obsessive repetition of the motif give the work a dimension that is both seductive and disconcerting. Warhol thus rejects the abstract expressionism dominant at the time, and proposes a cold, impersonal aesthetic, a reflection of mass consumer society.

A banal subject sublimated with Campbell's Soup Cans

The central subject of the work is the Campbell's soup can, a commonplace, banal consumer product accessible to all. Warhol elevates this everyday object into an artistic icon, questioning the very notion of art and beauty. The repetition of this motif, in 32 variations, reinforces the idea of mass production and standardization, characteristic of American society in the 60s. Each soup can, with its instantly recognizable red-and-white label, becomes a symbol of popular culture and the standardization of tastes.

The Campbell's Soup Cans, a varied symbolism

In choosing this subject, Warhol represented an object that mattered in his life, like banknotes, or representations of stars. With the idea of a screen-printed series, he wants to emphasize a global image more than the representation and details of the subject itself. His aim is not to represent a soup can in the slightest detail, but for the work to be recognized by all.

In Europe, the significance of this work goes beyond the purely artistic spheres originally intended by Warhol. On the old continent, the Campbell's Soup Cans are seen as a representation of the American consumer society of the 60s, marked by abundance, standardization and mass culture. The repetition of the soup cans evokes industrial assembly-line production, and the absence of any emotion or expression in the canvases reflects the alienation of the individual in this consumer society. The work is also often interpreted as a critique of capitalism and advertising, which create artificial needs and standardize tastes. The choice of Campbell's soup, a food staple, can then be seen as a metaphor for the superficiality and spiritual emptiness of modern society.

Campbell's Soup Cans: a major impact on art

Campbell's Soup Cans propelled Andy Warhol to the status of a major Pop Art artist, marking a turning point in his career and contributing to his international renown. It also had a considerable impact on art history, challenging traditional notions of art and beauty. Warhol paved the way for new forms of artistic expression, and his work, now indispensable, continues to fascinate and provoke, testifying to the power of art to reflect and question society.

This artwork is a painting from the contemporary period. It belongs to the pop art style.