A different side of Andy Warhol to discover
This autumn, Paris shines a light on a rarely seen facet of Andy Warhol. In two weeks, the Musée du Luxembourg opens the doors to Andy Warhol. The Line and the Image, an exhibition devoted not to the pop art icon as we know him, but to his practice as a draughtsman. Unmissable for anyone passing through the capital this season.
Drawing: the overlooked backbone of his work
Screen prints, Campbell's soup cans, endlessly repeated Marilyns, that's the imagery that comes to mind first. Drawing, by contrast, has stayed in the shadows. This exhibition sets the record straight, tracing Warhol's line from his first Self-Portrait in 1942 through to the preparatory sketches for The Last Supper in 1986.
Trained as an illustrator, Warhol never put down the pencil, even once he'd adopted the mechanical processes that made his name. The exhibition reveals an artist in constant experimentation: portraits, caricatures, everyday scenes, and advertising commissions. It was through this sustained practice of drawing that Andrew Warhola gradually became Andy Warhol, shaking off the influences of Klee, Picasso, Cocteau and Shahn along the way.
Five stages to take it all in
The exhibition unfolds across five sections:
- his early days as an advertising illustrator
- his fascination with handwriting
- his obsession with faces and masks
- a gay iconography kept largely under wraps for decades
- his reflections on death, which took centre stage after the 1968 assassination attempt
After a decade devoted to painting and then film, Warhol returned to drawing in the 1970s, this time in service of his commissioned portraits, the most famous being his Mao. Drawing became a testing ground, the space where graphic and colour choices were worked out before making the leap to canvas.
Behind the scenes at The Factory
Around 150 drawings sit alongside paintings, screen prints, photographs, and archival material, revealing the techniques Warhol invented to reproduce and multiply his images: stamps, transferred lines, stencils, and collage. Rare pieces, some never before shown, offer a direct line into The Factory, his New York studio, and into the ongoing tension between hand and machine that runs through his entire body of work.
Practical information
- Location: Musée du Luxembourg, 19 rue de Vaugirard, 75006 Paris
- Dates: 16 September 2026 – 10 January 2027
- Opening hours: 10.30am – 7pm (late opening Mondays until 10pm)
- Open to all
Hôtel Moderniste, right by the garden
Hôtel Moderniste has a setting all its own: just a few minutes' walk from the Jardin du Luxembourg, with a direct link on Metro line 12 (Convention – Notre-Dame-des-Champs). Perfect for pairing the Warhol exhibition with a stroll through the garden before heading back to unwind at the hotel. Book your stay at Hôtel Moderniste and make this exhibition the starting point of your next Paris getaway.
Photo ©Mingjun Liu - Unsplash