Andy Warhol is one of the most famous and most discussed artists of the 20th century. While his works of consumer goods and famous personalities were widely distributed, a theme that had been present since the late 1940s and until his untimely death in 1987 received little attention: Warhol's continuous search for an image for his (mostly male) Ideal of beauty and desire. For the first time, the Neue Nationalgalerie is putting together a large overview that focuses thematically on this central aspect of Warhol's various creative phases. With more than 300 works, paintings, prints, drawings, photographs, Polaroids, films and collages, the exhibition in the upper hall enables a comprehensive and inclusive understanding of the artist Andy Warhol, who never really “came out” during his lifetime.
The title of the exhibition “Andy Warhol: Velvet Rage and Beauty” is a homage to the book The Velvet Rage (2005), in which author Alan Downs describes the feeling of growing up and living as a homosexual man in a heterosexually dominated world.
While queerness seems to be at risk again in many societies today, the exhibition in Berlin in 2024 takes the opportunity to bring together these expressive works for the first and hopefully not the last time.
Note: The exhibition very explicitly shows nudity and sexuality as well as diverse representations of gender and bodies. If you would like to visit the exhibition with children or young people, do so together and keep in touch.
