Andy Warhol Volkswagen, from the Ads Portfolio, 1985 depicts the infamous 1960 ad originally created by ad company Doyle Dane Bernbach that changed the face of advertising forever. Connecting with consumers while representing a perfect balance of image, text, and simplicity, this ad achieved the seemingly impossible task of revamping Volkswagen after Hitler had formerly adopted it as his favorite car. Warhol's piece pays homage to the genius of this Lemon. Volkswagen ad, conveying the beetle in a bright grass green against a royal blue background. The text on the bottom clearly stands out, with its famous closing line, "We pluck the lemons; you get the plums." Like the Volkswagen company advertising its automobiles, Warhol's Ad series serves as a form of advertisement for Warhol's artwork, blatantly acknowledging the commercial nature of American society and urging consumers to continue buying iconic imagery that will forever proposition them with a new and exciting product.

Created in 1985, Andy Warhol Volkswagen, from the Ads Portfolio, 1985 is numbered from the edition of 190; apart from the edition of 30 Artist's Proofs, 5 Printer's Proofs, 5 Exhibition Proofs, 10 Hors Commerce, 10 numbered in Roman numerals, 1 BAT, and 30 Trial Proofs. This work is also hand signed by Andy Warhol (Pennsylvania, 1928 - New York, 1987) in pencil in lower left. The impression is on Lenox Museum Board, an American, machine-made cotton paper that is both buffered and Cold Pressed (Feldman & Schellmann, 41). This piece was printed by Rupert Jasen Smith, New York and published by Ronald Feldman Fine Arts, Inc., New York.

Andy Warhol Ads Series, 1985:

Andy Warhol’s Ads series of 1985 features a variety of advertisements and logos of popular consumer brands including Chanel No. 5, Paramount, Volkswagen, Mobilgas, and Apple.

Interested in exploring the relationship between art and commerce, Warhol understood advertisements to be ubiquitous and influential forms of visual culture that could be celebrated through art. By reproducing these quotidian advertisements as art, Warhol questions the value of traditional art forms and the role of the artist in a commercial society.

Each artwork in the series features the product or brand name in bold letters, surrounded by vibrant colors and other design elements. Warhol's use of repetition and bright colors gives these advertisements a sense of familiarity and immediacy, emphasizing their power over consumer desires and popular culture at large.

This screenprint is part of a portfolio of 10 works Warhol created in 1985 titled The Andy Warhol Ads Series . Other works in the Series include Apple, Mobil, Rebel Without a Cause (James Dean), Van Heusen (Ronald Reagan), Paramount, Blackglama (Judy Garland), Chanel, The New Spirit (Donald Duck), Lifesavers, Volkswagen.

Catalogue Raisonné & COA:
Andy Warhol Volkswagen, from the Ads Portfolio, 1985 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, A Catalogue Raisonne, 4th ed. Andy Warhol Volkswagen from Ads Series, 1985 listed as catalogue raisonné no. II.358 on pp. 146-147.
2. A Certificate of Authenticity will accompany this work.

About the Framing:
Andy Warhol Volkswagen, from the Ads Portfolio, 1985 is framed to museum grade conservation standards in a modern complementary and optical grade Plexiglas.