Andy Warhol is famous for his break into ‘60s Pop Art. The inspiration for this came from a minor dealer in New York City, Muriel Latow. Muriel was a flamboyant decorator, three years younger than Warhol, with hopes of becoming a serious art dealer. Latow has gone down in art history as Pop Art’s most important, if not an accidental muse.
The story is told, in one of many versions, that Latow went to a dinner at Warhol’s in the fall of 1961. She was there to console him after he felt he was one-upped by Oldenburg and Lichtenstein, who used his idea of “cartoon” paintings and capitalized on them. Warhol wanted to do something that was different from that and would have an impact on the pop art world.
After asking guests for ideas, Latow came up with one, but would not deliver until Warhol gave her a check for $50. Her idea was to find something recognizable to almost everybody, something that was seen everyday. . . something like a Campbell’s Soup can!
The next day, Warhol, or some say his mother, ran over to the supermarket across the street and bought every variety of Campbell’s Soup that it carried; he later checked this inventory for completeness against a list from the soup maker.
The rest is Pop Art history!
Fun Fact: One of Warhol’s biographers claims to have seen the actual check Warhol wrote to Latow.