Fifteen Minutes of Warhol Fame

Fourth Grade Art Lesson
3 Class Periods

Fifteen Minutes of Warhol Fame, Fourth Grade Art Lesson

"In the future everybody will be world famous

for fifteen minutes."  -Andy Warhol

About the Artist:
Andy Warhol was born August 6, 1928 in Pittsburg Pennsylvania.  He is famous for his "pop art" paintings of everyday items such as soup cans, coca-cola bottles, dollar bills and his screen-printed portraits of famous celebrities.  Many believe he is the leader of the POP ART movement.

Andy Warhol

He spent most of his life trying to prove himself as an artist.  Many viewers and fellow artists struggled accepting his art as a true art form.  The question, "What makes art, Art?" became a debate that many artists, students, and teachers still discuss today.


Lemon Marilyn, 1962 by Andy Warhol.

Warhol died February 22, 1987.  He was 58 years old.  Today his paintings are worth millions of dollars.

Day 1:

• Students viewed YouTube video clip on the life and artwork of Andy Warhol.
• A discussion was held on what they thought of Warhol's work and if they considered the paintings he made as art.

YouTube video shared in class on life and artwork of Andy Warhol.

• Students were given photocopied pictures of themselves. 
• Students were instructed to color one of the photocopies as true to life as possible using colored pencils.

 Day 2:

• Students were asked to color two more self-portraits.  Students were asked to use a monochromatic (one color) color scheme and a black and white scheme.

Day 3:

• Students were asked to color the last portrait using a complementary color scheme (color's opposite on color wheel).
• All portraits were cut out and mounted to a white piece of paper.
• Final compositions were mounted to black construction paper to create a mat around the image.

Student Examples: