Galleries - June 2025

world, ‘looking in’ on a public life he only really shared on the surface. It was these observations that fuelled his creativity, and his philosophical reflections on what he saw underpinned his work. The exhibition’s curator, Professor Jean Wainwright, developed personal friendships with many members of Warhol’s family, his contemporaries, and the people he surrounded himself with at his Factories, interviewing them to elicit their stories about Warhol. Spending hundreds of hours in the 1990s listening through headphones to the now embargoed recordings Warhol made on the tape recorder that was his constant companion, also allowed her to develop a peculiarly intimate relationship with Warhol himself. In Andy Warhol: My True Story we follow a unique journey which allows us to gain insight into the “real” Warhol: Through carefully selected Warhol drawings, artworks and artefacts together with previously unseen photographs by, and recordings with, his entourage and collaborators, this exhibition presents a more intimate and human side to Warhol as well as exposing some of the lesser known and enduring themes he explored in his art. As we move through the exhibition we grow to understand more about his family origins, his journey into the art world, and the people he surrounded himself with: We see Warhol’s homage to art history, his drawings and screenprints, love of repetition and his very particular way of composing his art. We also see his powerful influence beyond the grave through the works of contemporary artists who have paid homage to Warhol and his enduring legacy. Warhol ’s early drawings reveal both his fascination with the ordinary and the way he processed and communicated his subject matter in his own particular style, developing themes which recur and evolve in his later work. The often imperfect drawings in this exhibition provide insight into Warhol’s thinking and process, and rare archival books bear witness to his close relationship with his mother, his illustrations often accompanied by Julia’s ornate calligraphy. Even his signature was sometimes crafted by her. A compelling and rarely seen film he made of his mother in 1966, when she was 75, The George Hamilton Story (Mrs Warhol), which was shot in her apartment kitchen within Warhol ’s New York home, further reveals his relationship with her. An audio recording of his mother singing creates a particularly haunting atmosphere. From drawings such as Man with Hearts and a fictitious One Million Dollar Bill, screenprints including Mona Lisa (Four times), and iconic photographs by those who were close to and documented him, like Bob Adelman’s Andy Warhol Empties his Boots after being Pushed into the Pool by Edie Sedgewick , we glimpse a very human Warhol experimenting with ideas and subject matter. His ability to creatively inspire others, even long after his death, is seen through artworks by contemporary artists such as David LaChapelle, Gavin Turk, Rob and Nick Carter, and Philip Colbert. His enduring “brand” , a manifestation of his prescient observations about the rise of consumerism, is exemplified through a plethora of Warhol-themed objects and memorabilia. Through the intertwining of Warhol’s artworks with photographs, objects and artefacts, alongside films and reflective recordings with his relatives and contemporaries, this exciting exhibition reveals not only an elusive and fascinating man, but the influence that he still exerts on artists and his prescience in conveying a culture of populism and consumerism.