Last updated on June 26, 2018
When it comes to new experiences the city of New York never lets you down. One of the things that could be extremely enjoyable to do in the Big Apple is for sure the tour of the residences of the contemporary art’s artists.
Who lived in New York City?
Jean Michel Basquiat lived in a one-story building nearby Little Italy, at 57 of Great Jones Street. When Marc Chagall moved to the US to escape the horror of the Nazi persecution he chose for himself and his wife an apartment next to Central Park on 74th street. Edward Hopper lived till his death in 1967 in a four-storeys building in the heart of the Village: Washington Square.
Andy Warhol’s
Among all of the artists’ residences the one that struck me the most was for sure the last mansion of Andy Warhol. The American artist, father of the visual art movement known as pop art, lived in several places around Manhattan and a tour of Warhol’s residences must include his studio’s location aka The Factory:
- 1342 Lexington Avenue (where the first Factory opened its doors in 1960)
- 33 Union Square 1967-1973-The White Factory– (Decker Building)
- 860 Broadway (near 33 Union Square) 1973-1984 (the building has now been completely remodeled)
The last mansion of Andy Warhol was a four stories building at 57 E 66th Street, between Madison and Park Avenue. A few steps from Central Park and from the fancy stores of international designers the house does not particularly reflect who Andy Warhol was. It seems to be closer to a financial investor’s house rather than the residence of an iconic artist. What makes it as pop as he was is actually what happened inside this mansion. He moved here in 1974 and this is where he developed the concepts of his last decade of work. The celebrities portraits and the collection Jewish Geniuses were all displayed for the first time in the early eighties. This is the place where Andy Warhol lived when he was asked by the gallerist Alexander Iolas to produce work based on Leonardo da Vinci’s “The Last Supper“. The exhibition of these paintings took place in Milan in January 1987. This was Warhol’s last exhibition. He died on the 22nd of February 1987.
[…] recently this work of art has been the subject of a large number of copies starting from the Andy Warhol’s version. Through its work Warhol decided to create a hybrid of the sacred and profane, high art […]