I.

We start with the exhibition dealing with Andy Warhol's roots. The exhibition is composed mainly of the objects lent by the Protivnak and Bezek families. The exhibition is completed by the objects donated or lent by private persons. The most valuable exhibits are the following items:

  • two photographs taken by Andy Warhol; their authenticity is proven by his mother's messages written for her sister, Eva Bezakova, on their backs;

  • the authentic document in which Andy Warhol renounces his claim to the property in Mikova after his father's death;

  • the gramophone record reported to be the only example of Julia Warhola's speech and song in Ruthenian dialect;

  • the pen-and-ink drawing The Announciation of Our Lord's Birth by Julia Warhola which remarkably resembles Andy Warhol's first drawings;

    - the photograph of the portrait of Julia Warhola used by Andy Warhol as a model for his famous screenprint of his mother.

    The petition for founding the Museum, which was organized by Michal Cihlar and Ales Najbrt in 1989, can also be seen in this exhibition. Besides many other known politicians, artists and scientists, the petition was signed by the former president of Czecho-Slovakia Vaclav Havel.

    II.

    The next exhibition is the Paul and James Warhola Permanent Exhibition. Paul Warhola is Andy Warhol's brother and James Warhola is Paul's son. Paul Warhola, an amateur artist, lives on a farm near Pittsburg. His son, a professional artist, lives in New York City. Besides other exhibits the authentic baptismal shirt can be seen here. All the sons of Julia and Andrej Warhola - Paul, John and Andy - were baptized in it.

    Paul's paintings are experimental. He paints with coloured hens' legs by pressing them on coloured backgrounds. This is the way his multicolour decorative pictures occur. He calls them big or small promenades. Paul also uses the techniques of screenprint and classical painting. The result can be seen in the screenprint The Quadruple Portrait of Julia Warhola and The Portrait of Paul and Andy in Their Young Days. A variation of the latter work is the small screenprint on the coloured background lent by Paul Warhola's relatives. The only example of oil painting is Heinz Tomto Ketchup.

    James Warhola is represented by two oil paintings - The Modern Gladiators and The Workshop of a Sorcerer. The two paintings are owened by the Museum.

    The Paul and James Warhola Permanent Exhibition is the Museum's property with the exception of the small screenprint on canvas which is a variation of Paul and Andy in Their Young Days.

    III.

    The Andy Warhol Permanent Exhibition consist of the paintings both lent to the Museum by the Andy Warhol Foundation for Visual Arts in New York and owened by the Museum. There are 23 authentic paintings by Andy Warhol all together. Most of them are screenprints on cardboard, some of them are hand-coloured. The oldest screenprints are Campbell's Soup I and Campbell's Soup II.

    The two screenprints Flowers I and Flowers II (91.5x91.5 cm, 1970) represent another period in Andy Warhol's work. They are series of the same motif in different colour variations. Most copies are numbered 1 to 250.

    The two screenprints Electric Chair I and Electric Chair II (90.2x121.9 cm, 1971), both on view in the exposition, belong to the series American Death. They are an example of the period in Andy Warhol's work when disasters in the USA - suicides, car accidents, etc. - attracted his interest. It is difficult to say whether this was an expression of his protest, a mere pose or a phenomenon he just took a fancy to.

    The screenprints Hammer and Sickle I and Hammer and Sickle II (76.2x101 cm) represent the year of 1997. These symbols of communism, like the screenprint The Red Lenin (100x75 cm, 1987) were chosen for this exposition on purpose. For decades they were perceived as symbols - positive or negative - of the former USSR. The hammer and the sickle are connected with and important period in Soviet history that waits for a profound assessment by historians. Andy Warhol painted these screenprints, like the series of Lenin, without and political intention. The portrait of Lenin, like the portrait of Ingrid Bergman (screenprint on paper, 100x100 cm, 1983), belong to the series Famous People.

    An example of another series called Endangered Species represents the screenprint on paper Butterfly (100x100 cm, 1983) that is on view in the same exhibition. It is difficult to decide whether the screenprint Cow (120x70 cm, 1971) may also be included in the same series. The screenprint Cow, now possesed by the Museum, was used to design the black-and-white wallpaper for the interior of the exposition. The three coloured screenprints Flowers I-III (1974) have been acquired by the Museum from a private collector. Andy Warhol signed them using the abreviation 'AW'. On the back of the screenprints a caption reads 'c Copyright by Andy Warhol Multiples Inc. A Castelli Graphics 2, 1974'. They are coloured with aniline colours. They are said to be painted after a model taken from a catalogue of arranged flowers.

    The adapted motif taken from Paolo Eccello's picture Saint George Fighting with the Dragon (circa 1456) is another screenprint bought for the Museum by a sponsor. In comparision to other screenprints, it is less known. Warhol used only a fraction of that picture, the part of the princess' body and part of the dragon's tail.

    When visiting the Warhol Exhibition, many visitors will notice that not all the screenprints are signed by the artist. The screenprints are signed and marked on their backs. Their authenticity is also proved by the letter of the President of the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts in New York Archibald L. Gillies. His letter of September 14 1992 to Michal Bycko reads: "I am by this letter confirming that works of art on long term loan from this Foundation to your Museum are authentic works of Andy Warhol."

    The sculpture composition Draught of Air by David Cerny is another permanent exhibition in the Musuem. This composition together with Ultra Violet's monumental painting composition Andy and Ultra are exhibited in one of the Museum's entrance halls. Both works of art are gifts to the Museum by the two artists.

    The interior of the Museum is complemented by the staircase and the chandelier in the main entrance hall. The staircase is designed by Michal Cihlar and imitates Andy Warhol's screenprint Flowers. The chandelier design is based on Julia Warhol's philosophy and to enable the visitors to perceive the artist's vision of the world. The Factory Art Cafe, which is not only a cafe but an exhibition as well, visually resembles Warhol's studio Factory and is a complement to this.

    Besides the permanent exhibitions, there are also temporary shows, panels, concerts that are on the Museum's agenda. It is also in the Museum that children can attend the Art School sponsored by the Andy Warhol Foundation for Visual Arts in New York. The employees of the Museum go on collecting new exhibits and doing research. It is their aim to better comply with the 'Museum visitors' wishes who keep coming in growing numbers. They know that the Museum is important not only for the region of Eastern Slovakia but for the whole nation as Andy Warhol is an artist of world-wide importance.