Andy Warhol’s Vegetarian Vegetable Soup, Campbell’s Soup II, 1969 depicts the label of the Vegetarian Vegetable soup, one of Campbell’s alphabet soups that include letter-shaped noodles. The words “The Alphabet Soup” are encased in a vivid yellow speech bubble that is outlined in bold black, replacing the typical label’s golden seal. This substitution is paired with the cartoon-esque depiction of the noodles themselves, created with bright yellow and red shadows defining them against their white background. These additions create a whimsical take on the Campbell’s soup label.

The Campbell’s brand was, and still is, a household name. Warhol is known for his fascination with consumer culture; these works evoke the brand’s advertisements. Warhol also had a more personal connection to the subject. He once stated “I used to drink it. I used to have the same lunch every day, for 20 years…the same thing over and over again.” 

Andy Warhol’s Campbell’s Soup II contains ten screenprints, each depicting a different flavor of the brand’s soup. This portfolio focuses on some of the more unusual types of soup that Campbell’s made, and the labels have idiosyncratic graphics added to the typical Campbell’s soup label. Added graphics such as banners and stylized text break up the uniformity of the soup cans, but Warhol’s interest in repetition is still foregrounded in this portfolio’s soup cans’ consistent coloring, and identical heights and widths.

Andy Warhol’s Campbell’s soup cans propelled him to fame. The first series of soup cans was made in 1962 and was painted by hand. Switching to screenprinting for this 1968 portfolio allowed Warhol to make each work more consistent, further mimicking the actual cans of soup they were modeled after.

Drawing on the uniformity of the actual mass-produced object, each screenprint depicts a can of identical height and width, and with near-identical coloring.

Created in 1969, Andy Warhol’s Vegetarian Vegetable Soup, Campbell’s Soup is a color screenprint on Lenox Museum Board and is hand signed in ballpoint pen on verso. It is a unique work of an edition of 250, published by Factory Additions, New York and printed by Salvatore Silkscreen Co., Inc., New York.

Warhol’s earlier portfolio, Campbell’s Soup I, created in 1968, includes  Tomato Soup, Beef Soup, Onion Soup, Consomme (Beef), Cream of Mushroom, Pepper Pot, Black Bean, Green Pea, Chicken Noodle, Vegetable Made with Beef Stock.

Catalogue Raisonné & COA:
Andy Warhol Vegetarian Vegetable Soup, from Campbell’s Soup II 1969 is fully documented and referenced in the below catalogue raisonnés and texts (copies will be enclosed as added documentation with the invoices that will accompany the sale of the work).

1. Feldman, Frayda and Jörg Schellmann. Andy Warhol Prints: A Catalogue Raisonné 1962 – 1987, 4th Ed. New York: Distributed Art Publishers, Inc., 2003.
2. A Certificate of Authenticity will accompany this artwork.

About the Framing:
Framed to museum-grade, conservation standards, artist name title, year is presented in a complementary moulding and finished with silk-wrapped mats and optical grade Plexiglas.