Jan 11, 2024 By Stephanie Kalina-Metzger 4 min read

Pittsburgh’s Andy Warhol Museum, established in 1994, has been a perennial favorite among Warhol fans since its inception. Each year, it attracts people from across the globe who make the pilgrimage to learn more about Pittsburgh’s native son.

The extensive collection of art and archives from one of the nation’s most influential 20th century artists spans seven floors. According to Matt Gray, Director of Archives, the collection is so extensive that it’s impossible to show everything at once.

“There are almost 1,000 paintings, 100 sculptures, nearly 2,000 drawings, 4,000 photographs and that’s not including the film and video collection,” he said.

Now there’s another reason for Warhol fans to pay a visit to the destination. A new exhibit, titled, Unseen: Permanent Collection Works has been unveiled and will continue at the Museum through March 4, 2024.

Now Is the Time

“We decided that now was the time to mine our collection to allow the public to see works that generally don’t get highlighted,” said Gray, adding that there are 60 pieces in the Unseen exhibit, which are on display on the second floor of the museum. Gray explains that Director Patrick Moore chose the pieces and that he, along with other staff delved deep into their background.

Expounding a bit on what the public can expect, Gray said that one of the highlights is a selection of prints which Warhol made in the ’70s and ’80s.

“We learned that they were intended to be made as gifts for his staff members at the studio. A few lacked titles, so it took quite a bit of research within the collection for specifics,” said Gray, adding that he and other staff consulted with those within the Warhol world — those who knew and worked with him. “It was a team effort to determine what some of the artwork was about,” said Gray.

Gray said a portion of the exhibit is dedicated to some of Warhol’s more explicit works.

“Some of what Warhol created could be construed as graphic, however, it was what he captured from a witnessing perspective. It shows his personal life experience as a queer man coming out during this artwork,” said Gray, adding that Warhol spoke the language of camp imagery and queer sensibility that gay people would pick up on. “It’s through his images that he could get this point across,” said Gray. Moore adds that the explicit sexual content of some of the works has also contributed to them not being publicly displayed until now.

Other thematic sections in the exhibit include abstraction and portraiture.

“Warhol’s self-portrait is particularly poignant — it’s very fragile and almost decaying. For me, it is very vulnerable and that’s a particularly beautiful thing and I find it amazing that it’s never been seen,” said Moore.

Warhol’s willingness to take risks and experiment with various mediums is also evident in the exhibit. On display is a piece where the artist used chocolate and jam to paint on a canvas.

“He was experimenting from very early on in his career — testing, trying things out,” said Gray.

Moore explains that quite a few artists were using non-traditional materials at that time and Warhol was influenced by that.

“Some of the materials are fragile and meant to decay over time, we understand that, but we do our best to ensure they are stable. Even though they may have been meant to be ephemeral, it doesn’t mean they shouldn’t be seen,” said Moore, adding that he is still in awe of the fact that the works in the exhibit have never been shown.

“It reflects the enormity of the museum’s collection and the complexity of Warhol’s legacy,” he said.

Moore said that he hopes the exhibit will help visitors gain insight into Warhol’s thought processes, which laid the groundwork for his many artworks. “Many are related to other bodies of work and he either made a mistake or was experimenting with a larger process. We want the public to realize how broad Warhol’s artistic practice was,” he said.

Moore said that the staff works every day with an extraordinary collection that continues to surprise and confound. “Unseen is an opportunity to delve into areas of the collection that are new, even to us. These are objects that are both aesthetically beautiful and that have stories to tell. We’re proud to share them with the public for the first time,” he said.

Unseen: Permanent Collection Works is curated by Patrick Moore, Director of The Warhol, with the support of Matt Gray, director of archives, Signe Watson, Independent researcher and the Warhol collections and exhibition department. It is on view through March 4, 2024.