Was Andy Warhol Gay? - Art - Painting

Many have argued that Andy Warhol was asexual - a man without sexual desire neither for women nor for men. Who knows, Warhol rarely spoke about personal matters in interviews. Mostly he he just answered with a nod or a simpel "no". And since he never was married or had any publicly known affairs hardly anyone ever knew Warhols deepest desires.

"Too swish"But Warhol did in fact hint about his sexual orientation in some of his published books. In "Popism: The Warhol Sixties for example Warhol writes that he had a hard time being accepted as an artist an as a person from fellow artists like Jasper Johns and Robert Rauschenberg, who probably were gay (but closeted). Apparantly Warhol was "too swish". Warhol himself comments that:

- "There was nothing I could say to that. It was all too true. So I decided I just wasn't going to care, because those wereall the things that I didn't want to change anyway, that I didn't think I 'should' want to change Other people could change their attitudes but not me".

Nude malesBut what about his art? Does it convey any of his sexual orientation? At first glance no. But if we go back and investigate Warhols first years as an artist we might find something very interesting. As a young artist Warhol submitted quite a lot of nude male drawings for exhibitions, but were never accepted because they were seen as too openly gay. Later he also made photographs of nude males. There exist only one painting of a nude women (called "pati palomeras").

In addition, a lot of the motives Andy Warhol used as an artist - like the paintings of Elizabeth Taylor, Judy Garland and Liza Minelli draw from gay underground culture. But at the same time these motives also come from Warhols childhood and his obsession with the stars of his time. Also among his films there are examples of homoeroticism - like the film "Blow Job" and "Lonesome Cowboys".

A religious manBut why did Warhol rarely speak about his personal affairs and his homosexuality (if he indeed was gay)? First of all Warhol was a very private person, and not especially interested in talking about his private matters. But some of the answer might also lie in the artists religious beliefs.

Most people are not aware of this, but Andy Warhol was a deeply spiritual man. In his artistic work this is not apparent until the mid 80s when he made two art series called "Details of Renaissance Paintings" (1984) and "The Last Supper" (1986). A large body of religious work was also found after the artist death in 1987.

Like his sexual preferences, Warhol rarely spoke about his religious beliefs.

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