Andy Warhol and Joseph Beuys Were Unlikely Pals. A New Show Delves Into Their Surprising Rapport

Verity Babbs December 28, 2023 ShareShare This Article

A series of portraits of Joseph Beuys created by Andy Warhol during the 1980s are currently on view at London’s Thaddaeus Ropac, as part of an exhibition that delves into the relationship between the social sculptor and Pop legend.

“Andy Warhol: The Joseph Beuys Portraits” marks the first time that the Beuys pictures are presented together for over 40 years. Made between 1980 and 1986, the series of screen prints feature Warhol’s characteristic use of scale and repetition, and variously bear vivid hues and others diamond dust—all of them recreations of a 1979 Polaroid photo he took of the German artist in his signature felt hat.

The pair first officially met at an exhibition opening in Düsseldorf in 1979. Writer David Galloway described the moment as having “all the ceremonial aura of two rival popes meeting in Avignon.” Later that year, Beuys visited Warhol at his New York studio, the Factory, to be photographed—incidentally at the same time as the modernist painter Georgia O’Keeffe.

Andy Warhol and Joseph Beuys (1980), Lucio Amelio Naples © DACS, 2023; Photo: Tate.

Andy Warhol and Joseph Beuys, Lucio Amelio [Gallery], Naples (1980). © DACS, 2023; Photo: Tate.

Although the pair were not close friends and pursued dramatically different approaches to their practices, they showed great respect for each other’s work. Pre-dating their meeting in Düsseldorf, Warhol had created a propaganda poster for Germany’s Green Party at the request of Beuys.

“He himself is sort of [a] ghost; he has spirituality,” Beuys said of Warhol. “Maybe this tabular rasa that Andy Warhol does [in his portraits], this emptiness and cleansing of any traditional signature… is something that creates the possibility of allowing radically different perspectives to enter.”

Andy Warhol, Joseph Beuys (1980–83). © The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Inc. / Schellmann Art / DACS, London, 2023.

The first exhibition of Warhol’s Beuys portraits took place at Galleria Lucio Amelio in Naples in 1980, the opening of which saw both artists in attendance. Later exhibitions of the images happened in Munich and Geneva; today, the portraits are held in major collections including that of London’s Tate Museum and New York’s Museum of Modern Art.

The show at Thaddaeus Ropac will also include trial proofs and other rare works on paper by Warhol. It is, in a way, a full-circle moment for Ropac: in the 1980s, the Austrian gallerist served as an intern for Beuys, who he described to the Guardian as possessing “incredible charisma.”

Ropac also highlighted how Warhol’s Beuys elaborate series stood out at a time when the Pop artist had taken to churning out one-off portrait commissions. That he had opted to develop and experiment with variations of the Beuys image—as a line drawing, a diamond-dusted canvas, a two-toned silkscreen—is proof of how the image captured his eye.

“When you see the same face in all these variations, you realize there is an incredible connection,” Ropac added. “He caught the face, but also a state of mind.”

See more images from the show below.

Installation view of Andy Warhol: The Joseph Beuys Portraits at Thaddaeus Ropac London. 4 December 2023 – 9 February 2024. Photo: Aggie Cherrie. © The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Inc. /DACS, London, 2023. Courtesy Thaddaeus Ropac gallery, London • Paris • Salzburg • Seoul.

Installation view of “Andy Warhol: The Joseph Beuys Portraits” at Thaddaeus Ropac London. Photo: Aggie Cherrie. © The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Inc. /DACS, London, 2023. Courtesy of Thaddaeus Ropac gallery.Thaddaeus Ropac gallery.