''Green Coca-Cola Bottles'' is a 1962 painting by

Andy Warhol Andy Warhol (; born Andrew Warhola Jr.; August 6, 1928 – February 22, 1987) was an American visual artist, film director, and producer who was a leading figure in the visual art movement known as pop art. His works explore the relationsh ...

that depicts one hundred and twelve almost identical

Coca-Cola Coca-Cola, or Coke, is a carbonated soft drink manufactured by the Coca-Cola Company. Originally marketed as a temperance drink and intended as a patent medicine, it was invented in the late 19th century by John Stith Pemberton in Atlanta ...

bottles.

produced at least four notable

paintings in the 1960s, with ''Green Coca-Cola Bottles'' being one of them. As part of the same series, Warhol created

Coca-Cola (3) ''Coca-Cola 3'' is a painting by Andy Warhol. He completed the painting in 1962 as a wider series on Coca-Cola paintings, which also included '' Green Coca-Cola Bottles'' and '' Coca-Cola (4)''. The painting and others in the series are consider ...

, among others.

Origin & painting

Warhol created a number of notable works in the early 1960s. This began with the famous

Campbell's Soup Cans ''Campbell's Soup Cans'' (sometimes referred to as ''32 Campbell's Soup Cans'') is a Visual arts, work of art produced between November 1961 and March or April 1962 by American artist Andy Warhol. It consists of thirty-two canvases, each mea ...

, which was completed between 1961 and early 1962. During this period, Warhol experimented with numerous common items, before creating the Green Coca-Cola Bottles painting in 1962. This period is often referred back to as Warhol's earlier work. In his early days as an artist, Warhol apparently experimented with the Coca-Cola bottle beginning in the 1950s. The first known artwork of Warhol's was an ink-on-gouache drawing of a Coca-Cola bottle with a pair of legs. In the early 1960s, prior to the creation of

, he used to tear

bottle images from magazines to use them in collages. This inspiration and early use of the Coca-Cola bottle led him to create Green Coca-Cola Bottles in 1962. ''Green Coca-Cola Bottles'' took a mainstream item and converted it into a piece of art. Warhol’s piece utilized a

silkscreen Screen printing is a printing technique where a mesh is used to transfer ink (or dye) onto a substrate, except in areas made impermeable to the ink by a blocking stencil. A blade or squeegee is moved across the screen to fill the open mesh ...

technique, which mechanicalized some aspects of the painting but featured individualized “unevenness” across the painting. The painting engenders an optimistic message for the American public, described in Warhol’s own words, “What’s grand about this country is that America started the tradition where the richest consumers buy essentially the same thing as the poorest... you can know that the President drinks Coke, Liz Taylor drinks Coke, and, just think, you can drink Coke, too. A Coke is a Coke, and no amount of money can get you a better Coke.”

Early Coca-Cola painting series

's relationship with

began early in his career when he created a number

themed paintings. One such work was the creation of Green Coca-Cola Bottles, which was part of a wider series of four paintings. According to a friend of Warhol's, he began to focus on pop art paintings of

bottles and asked for critique on them. ''"It wasn't until he did the series of Coke bottles and got the feedback ... that he found his genre."'' Warhol also famously created

, which sold recently for a large sum at

Christie's Christie's is a British auction house founded in 1766 by James Christie (auctioneer), James Christie. Its main premises are on King Street, St James's in London, at Rockefeller Center in New York City and at Alexandra House in Hong Kong. It is ...

. Throughout his career, he created 15 artworks related to

, according to the corporation.

Exhibitions

Green Coca-Cola Bottles was exhibited at

's An American Icon At 100, celebrating the Coke bottle's 100th year since it was created. it is currently housed in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

at the

Whitney Museum of American Art The Whitney Museum of American Art, known informally as "The Whitney", is an art museum in the Meatpacking District and West Village neighborhoods of Manhattan in New York City. It was founded in 1930 by Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney (1875–1942), ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Green Coca-Cola Bottles 1962 paintings Paintings by Andy Warhol Coca-Cola in popular culture Paintings in the collection of the Whitney Museum of American Art