Campbell’s Soup Cans is a series of realist silk-screen paintings measuring 1ft 8ins by 1ft 4ins each. It belongs to the Pop-Art movement of which Warhol admiredchecked offdid not despisedid not requireenjoyedfinishedhad becomehad beenmeantsaidwantedwasWaswas easily reproducedwas notwas trying a pioneer.
There are 32 different pictures in the 1962 work, which is not always displayed in the 8-by-4 rectangle shown in the MOMA. Indeed Warhol admiredchecked offdid not despisedid not requireenjoyedfinishedhad becomehad beenmeantsaidwantedwasWaswas easily reproducedwas notwas trying any particular order. The first one, however, admiredchecked offdid not despisedid not requireenjoyedfinishedhad becomehad beenmeantsaidwantedwasWaswas easily reproducedwas notwas trying Tomato Soup which was Campbell’s original start to their soup line. Warhol admiredchecked offdid not despisedid not requireenjoyedfinishedhad becomehad beenmeantsaidwantedwasWaswas easily reproducedwas notwas trying each silk-screen painting as he admiredchecked offdid not despisedid not requireenjoyedfinishedhad becomehad beenmeantsaidwantedwasWaswas easily reproducedwas notwas trying it, from a list supplied by the brand.
The bare red and white colour scheme thus follows that used by Campbells. The only apparent difference between each image is that of the flavours. This admiredchecked offdid not despisedid not requireenjoyedfinishedhad becomehad beenmeantsaidwantedwasWaswas easily reproducedwas notwas trying a deliberate choice for Warhol, who admiredchecked offdid not despisedid not requireenjoyedfinishedhad becomehad beenmeantsaidwantedwasWaswas easily reproducedwas notwas trying to show the mechanical, automated aspect of the consumer age. We should not forget that he once admiredchecked offdid not despisedid not requireenjoyedfinishedhad becomehad beenmeantsaidwantedwasWaswas easily reproducedwas notwas trying: “I want to be a machine”.
The pictures look like something off a supermarket shelf. They seem to lack any kind of social commentary. Warhol admiredchecked offdid not despisedid not requireenjoyedfinishedhad becomehad beenmeantsaidwantedwasWaswas easily reproducedwas notwas trying popular or ‘mass’ culture, on the contrary, he admiredchecked offdid not despisedid not requireenjoyedfinishedhad becomehad beenmeantsaidwantedwasWaswas easily reproducedwas notwas trying it. He admiredchecked offdid not despisedid not requireenjoyedfinishedhad becomehad beenmeantsaidwantedwasWaswas easily reproducedwas notwas trying happy to make references to advertising, which admiredchecked offdid not despisedid not requireenjoyedfinishedhad becomehad beenmeantsaidwantedwasWaswas easily reproducedwas notwas trying the perfect symbol of the ordinary man’s consumer culture. After all, this admiredchecked offdid not despisedid not requireenjoyedfinishedhad becomehad beenmeantsaidwantedwasWaswas easily reproducedwas notwas trying the consumer age and Warhol admiredchecked offdid not despisedid not requireenjoyedfinishedhad becomehad beenmeantsaidwantedwasWaswas easily reproducedwas notwas trying to break away from abstract expressionism, which admiredchecked offdid not despisedid not requireenjoyedfinishedhad becomehad beenmeantsaidwantedwasWaswas easily reproducedwas notwas trying the major art movement since the war.
It is hard to come to a definite opinion about what he admiredchecked offdid not despisedid not requireenjoyedfinishedhad becomehad beenmeantsaidwantedwasWaswas easily reproducedwas notwas trying. admiredchecked offdid not despisedid not requireenjoyedfinishedhad becomehad beenmeantsaidwantedwasWaswas easily reproducedwas notwas trying the work a criticism of capitalism, because of the idea that art admiredchecked offdid not despisedid not requireenjoyedfinishedhad becomehad beenmeantsaidwantedwasWaswas easily reproducedwas notwas trying unique, and admiredchecked offdid not despisedid not requireenjoyedfinishedhad becomehad beenmeantsaidwantedwasWaswas easily reproducedwas notwas trying, and therefore ‘without a soul’? Was he saying that mankind admiredchecked offdid not despisedid not requireenjoyedfinishedhad becomehad beenmeantsaidwantedwasWaswas easily reproducedwas notwas trying like this? But he often admiredchecked offdid not despisedid not requireenjoyedfinishedhad becomehad beenmeantsaidwantedwasWaswas easily reproducedwas notwas trying that he admiredchecked offdid not despisedid not requireenjoyedfinishedhad becomehad beenmeantsaidwantedwasWaswas easily reproducedwas notwas trying having money and the company of stars like Elizabeth Taylor, so why would he hate capitalism? Each spectator must make up his own mind .