Last Supper by Andy Warhol

Everyone is aware of or familiar with the Last Supper, but Christians in particular. One of the most well-known events is described in the Holy Bible. There are so many things that are supposed to have happened at the final supper. The twelve disciples were present when Christ ate his final meal. In addition, it was predicted that one of Jesus' followers would betray him at the same event. Three topics are represented by the last supper. The dynamic and dramatic portrayal of Christ's betrayal is first and foremost. The announcement that one of the disciples of Jesus would betray him brought a lot of tension in the feast. Secondly, there is the theme of Eucharist. It was during the last supper when the institution of the Eucharist tradition was done. Lastly, there was the theme of farewell by Jesus to his disciples. During the farewell, Judas Iscariot had already left the dinner. Although there have been the production of several artworks about the events of the last supper, Warhol’s painting of the last supper is the most famed spiritual painting up to date.

The original painting of the last supper by Leonard da Vinci

The original painting of the last supper that Andy Warhol derived his art of the last supper from was created by Leonardo da Vinci between 1495 and 1498. The painting shows events that took place during the last days of Jesus with his disciples before he ascended into heaven as described in the gospel of John in the Bible. He shows the reactions of the disciples after Jesus broke the news to them that one of them would betray him. The painting shows Christ, apostles and identifies Judas from the rest of the disciples. Da Vinci used symbolism as well to bring out the religious aspect of the painting.

Christ

In all the works that have been done on the last supper, Jesus is always at the center of the congregation. Leonard also placed Jesus’ figure at the center of the composition. On the same point, Jesus shows an expansive gesture. According to Leonardo, this gesture shows that the holy sacrament was not just meant for the apostles only but also for the clergy.

Apostles

From Leonardo’s image, there can be the individual identification of all the apostles according to “the notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci.” From the left to the right of the image, Leonardo grouped the apostles into four groups each containing three disciples with Jesus at the center of them all. The disciples show different reactions to the breaking news that one of them would betray Jesus.

Group 1- Bartholomew, Andrew and James the less. The three disciples look surprised by the news of Jesus’ betrayal. They look at each in disbelief of what Jesus had told them.

Group 2- Peter, Judas, and John. Peter is holding a knife and looks very annoyed; Judas is laid back from the rest and John who was the youngest of all the disciples only swoons. Although Judas knew he was the one being talked about, he was still looking confused. He was still in denial of the fact that he was going to betray Jesus. John was always childish because of his age.

Jesus- Jesus is at the center, and he displays composure. He is very relaxed and not concerned about the reactions of the disciples because he was sure about who among them was going to betray him. In addition his calmness shows that he was ready to die.

Group 3- Thomas, James, and Philip. Thomas looks very upset by the news, James seems to be in shock and Philip is seeking an explanation from the rest of the disciples on what Jesus had said bout his betrayal.

Group 4- in the final group is Jude Thaddeus, Mathew, and Simon. Both Jude Thaddeus and Mathew turn to Simon to explain deeper on the news that Jesus had just broken to them.

The painting shows how the twelve disciples individually reacted towards the breaking news on Jesus’s betrayal. It shows the disbelief, horror, and anger while on the hand, it shows the relaxed and expansive pose that Jesus portrayed at the same time. From the Bible, Jesus knew about his death, and he was ready for it.

Judas

In most paintings and images of the last supper, Judas is placed in a separate place from the rest of the disciples to show that he was the one that would betray Jesus. Most images isolate him from the rest to show that he was the evil one. However, Leonardo used a different approach to bringing that aspect of Judas. He placed Judas together with the other disciples on the same table with their faces facing the viewer of the image. Even so, da Vinci used the following skills to make Judas stand out from the rest of the disciples; First and foremost, Judas is holding a small bag in his hands. According to Leonardo, he used the bag to show that Judas was carrying the thirty silver pieces that he was paid so as to betray Jesus. From the Gospel of John about the betrayal and death of Jesus, Judas was given thirty pieces of silver to sell out Jesus. On the same point of betrayal, Judas knocked over the pot. Secondly, Judas’s head is placed a bit lower that the rest of the disciples on the table. His image is also on the left of the shadow. Those signs make Judas stand out from the other disciples according to the biblical descriptions.



Figure 2: the last supper by Leonard Da Vinci

Warhol’s paintings of the last supper

The Last Supper is the final series of paintings by Andy Warhol which he did in 1986. He created it after Leonardo da Vinci’s The Last Supper. Warhol met his death in early 1987 just after some of his works were selected and premiered at an exhibition that took place on 22nd January 1987.The collections of Warhol’s early and late works are in a huge canvas material. The painting is on a massive canvas of 32 feet long and 10 feet tall. Warhol’s paintings were reproductions of the original, and he based his thoughts on art books or simple drawings from children in their coloring books.Sometimes in the 1980s, Warhol was moved by the idea of coming up with artworks derived from various pieces of paintings from the history of art and transforming them into his vocabulary with the help of the silkscreen. Alexandre Lolas who was one of Warhol’s gallerists inspired him to use Leonardo’s painting “the last supper” and develop an artwork from it. He took up the task with passion and painted the last supper which even exceeded demands of the exhibition.

The series of the last supper includes; black-light last super, camouflage last supper, a black on dense umber and a yellow white on white last suppers, among other variations of last suppers which involved commercial logos. For example, the wise potato chips and the wing on the motor circle.In his adaptation of the last supper, Warhol took an image that had been so common within the Christian community and revolutionized it through his signature format of the repetitive silkscreen. He gives an inspirational and a new meditation on the rejuvenation masterpiece and also the religion’s role in the present-day art and life.

The camouflage last supper

It is one of Warhol’s versions of the last supper paintings. It is a very powerful image in a theoretical point of view. Because of people’s imperfections, they have a tendency of obscuring not just the love they receive from others but also the love that they offer to others. Therefore, according to Rev. Dr. Kate Alexander, Warhol used the camouflage color to suggest that, no matter how people embrace life or how much they run from it, the simple acts that Jesus portrayed can still reach through to them. During that last night, Jesus told his disciples to have love for one another; he also told them to share the Holy Eucharist in his name. In addition, Alexander said that, maybe, Jesus suspected that, human beings think of themselves as loveable just through camouflage.

In the creation of the last supper, Warhol engaged in a dialogue with a very famous and ambiguous image in Christianity. The image had a personal significance as well. Warhol grew in a Roman Catholic community, and there was Leonardo’s painting’s reproduction (the last supper) their family house’s wall. Also, Warhol’s mother had a mass card that showed the painting in her prayer book. These are some of the reproductions from which Warhol drew his ideas. They were inexpensive and readily available to him.

The composition of Warhol’s last supper narrowed down to a spare monochromatic color pattern which grants for dramatically various articulations of the subject in the variation between black on black and black on white canvases. This format has a profound religious meaning which is familiar with most Christian holy altarpieces. The black on black brings a melancholic mood, and it can be interpreted as the image’s own slow death as well as Jesus revealing to his disciples that he will be betrayed and killed. According to Warhol’s painting about The Last Supper, the image could signify an assessment of the commodification of a theological image, stand as an adoration of the famous-like status of the image or even indicate a celebration of the Pope of his Christian denomination faith.He remained a loyal believer of his Catholic faith throughout his lifetime. However, many people believed that he only worshiped for commercial purposed. In designing this particular painting, Warhol looked back at the stylistic devices he used in new yolk as a graphic designer and applied them on The Last Supper. These skills are evident in the figures of Jesus and his twelve disciples. Warhol also used the technique of visual poetry in the painting of The Last Supper. He bashed contradicting subject matter into one piece. That is religious imagery and different advertisement products to come up with a new meaning. In his paintings, Warhol sometimes used “high” as his raw material. The most known is Mona Lisa. Mona Lisa is very common, and it is more familiar with cartoons, T-shirts, advertisements, among others. It is culturally a logo or symbol for art advertisement.

Analysis of religious symbolism in Warhol’s art

Warhol’s Christian background is one of the most important aspects that influenced him in doing the painting of the last supper. Although many people did not know about it, Andy Warhol was raised up in a Christian family, and he remained a devoted Christian during his entire life. He worshiped in a Catholic church where he attended mass almost daily.He kept his religious life as a secret. Because of the fact that he was a homosexual, many people could not believe that he was a devoted Christian. Jane Dillenberger (an art historian) said that, “He never went to confession but was "bonding with a God and a Christabove and beyond the church.” Therefore, his experiences with art came from a religious point of view. He used to stare at the wall paintings in the church which included a painting of the last supper. There was also an image of the last supper by Leonardo da Vinci that hung on their kitchen wall. However, Warhol used both sacred and secular objects in creating his last supper piece of art. He mixed both commercial and cultural imagery and holy symbols to bring more meaning into the painting of the last supper.

A scrutiny of the painting by Warhol, the commercial objects included, have some significant religious meaning. For example, Warhol associated the logo on the motorcycle which is a wing with an angel wing. In addition, the eye, which was initially the logo of wise potato chips, Warhol interpreted it as an “all seeing eye.” According to the holy scriptures of the Christians, God is omnipresent and sees everything that people do. According to Warhol, the capital letter C signifies Christ. Another commercial object in the painting is the $6.99 price tag. The interpretation of the price tag is the ultimate price that Christ paid for by dying for the sins of humanity. In the Holy Scriptures, it is written that Jesus paid for our sins on the cross. The idea of connecting or creating meaning between religious and commercial imagery, Warhol stimulates people to think about more contemptuous and commercialized attitudes of religion, as something that people should buy in to in order to believe entirely. In other words, Warhol was passing a message that, although God’s grace is free, it is indeed not cheap.

With that notion in mind, along with the idea following Warhol’s celebrity portraits, of which Christ is the most famous celebrity ever in the universe, and his appropriate use of cultural imagery and logos, the meaning of the last supper therefore becomes more distinct. People can relate what the logos are used to mean or stand for in the Last Supper (1986) from a theoretical point of view.

Jane Daggett is a professor of theory and visual arts at Graduate Theological Union and also the author of “the religious art of Andy Warhol.” During an interview in March 1999, she gave a detailed analysis of the religious symbolism in Andy Warhol’s art.

Warhol’s use of Dove, the Wise potato chip and GE logos in The Last Supper, The Big “C”:

Jane said that the above symbols could have several different meanings. For example, GE could stand for God or Dove. However, the two may have different meaning. However, interpreting the symbols in a theoretical point of view, Jane argued that the Dove stands for the dove of the Holy Spirit and the presence of the Christ in the paintings gives the meaning of the holy trinity. In the Holy Scriptures, the symbol of a dove represents the Holy Spirit. That is why Jane comes into conclusion that the dove in the painting shows the presence of the Holy Spirit. She further said that Warhol was very familiar with that symbol especially the fact that he was a devoted Catholic. It is a very common symbol in the Catholic denomination, and almost every Catholic Church has a Dove image on its wall or a monument of a dove. However, it is also possible for an individual to decode the symbol as just a decoration in the painting. It all depends on different people and how they approach the image.

The significance of the 6.99 price tag:

Most of Warhol’s works included price tags. According to the times that he painted his work, these prices were low. For the $6.99 price tag, Jane suggested that it could mean cheaper bargain rates for the piece of the art. Secondly, she argued that the reversal of 99 would make the number be 666 which have a perception among the Christian community as evil numbers in the Bible (the book of Revelations). It is associated with doom or evil. Therefore, theologically, this price could represent the money that Judas Iscariot was paid in order to betray Jesus.

The big letter “C”

The letter C represents Christ. However, in Andy’s museum, the big letter C has a different meaning. It is used in an advertisement for cancer cure. The advertisement talks about talks about the fear of cancer and what to buy in order to address cancer issues. People had a lot of fear for cancer and that is why most people did not even mention it in full but rather referred to it as C. that how the letter C came to represent cancer during those times. In a theoretical approach of the Last Supper, the letter stands for Christ in a gathering with his disciples.

The three motorcycles in the art

Jane looks back at Warhol’s lifestyle. He wore black leather, and he also associated with people who wore black leather in the factory as well. During that period, the black that was worn by the motor cycle enthusiasts later bore a meaning of freedom from restraints.Most of the people in the factory were gay, and the motor cycle was significant in that it gave them freedom. All this symbolism was constrained in a subculture that Andy Warhol knew of. The motor cycles had wing logos which can be interpreted theologically as the wings of the dove. The dove is used biblically to represent the Holy Spirit.

An art analyst called Linda contributed to the book named Its Cactus giving different meanings of the symbol of the dove as used in different paintings. In Warhol’s last supper, Linda said that there are various interpretations of the symbol of the dove. She said that it could represent the Holy Spirit; it could be a symbol of peace, and also purity, love, motherhood, innocence and so forth. The dove is religious presentation in the painting. The Holy Bible portrays a Dove as a holy creature and it is associated with purity and holiness. During the last supper, Jesus promised his disciples that he would send the Holy Spirit to guide then upon his departure. In the Gospel of John, a dove dropped from heaven and appeared to the disciples as they were praying. Thus, the dove in Warhol’s last supper represents the Holy Spirit. It can also be a symbol of peace in that, during the last supper, Jesus told the disciples, “peace be with you”.

Conclusion

The last supper is a very important image to all Christians and especially the Catholic denomination. The original art of the Last Supper by Leonardo da Vinci shows the events that took place during the dinner “the last supper “of Jesus and his disciples. It was a farewell dinner to the apostles as Jesus was going to leave them and go to heaven. Andy Warhol’s reproductions of the art include some other commercial objects in it. The commercial objects used, however, have some theological meanings that relate to what is read in the Holy Bible. Warhol used high creativity in his works to come up with his painting of the last supper. Though it was a reproduction of Leonardo da Vinci’s painting, his image has little to do with the original image.

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