Andy Warhol, Dog, 1982. Artwork and Image © The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Inc. Andy Warhol, Dog, undated. Artwork and Image © The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Inc. Andy Warhol, Dog, undated. Artwork and Image © The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Inc. Andy Warhol, Dog, undated. Artwork and Image © The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Inc. Andy Warhol, Dog, undated. Artwork and Image © The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Inc. Andy Warhol, Dog, undated. Artwork and Image © The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Inc.

When you see Andy Warhol’s name, his Pop Art paintings of Marilyn Monroe, Elvis Presley, and Campbell’s soup cans probably spring to mind. But Warhol’s interests extended beyond fame and commerce, as evidenced in the photos he took to record his daily life. “A picture means I know where I was every minute,” the artist said. “That’s why I take pictures. It’s a visual Diary.”

Michael Hermann, Director of Licensing at The Andy Warhol Foundation for Visual Arts, says of Warhol’s photography: “Warhol’s obsession with documenting his life through the lens of his camera allows us to see his artistic eye at work and generously pulls back the cloak of celebrity to reveal humanizing moments from everyday life that captured his imagination.”

These pictures not only recorded Andy’s life, they helped pave the way for social media. Warhol famously predicted that “In the future, everyone will be world-famous for 15 minutes,” which social media has now made possible–even for animals! But before there was Marnie the Shih Tzu, Boo the Pomeranian, or Maru the Shiba Inu, there were Andy’s dogs.

Warhol was such a devoted dog lover that he refused to travel to London in the early 1970s because it would require leaving his beloved dachshund Archie behind or subjecting him to quarantine for six months, so it’s no surprise that he took many photos of the dogs he encountered.

Our selections come from the more than 28,000 original Andy Warhol photographs in Artstor that the Warhol Foundation gave to over 180 college and university museums and galleries as part of its 2007 Andy Warhol Photographic Legacy Program.

So sit back, relax, and enjoy the puppers. The way Andy would have wanted you to.

– Vicki Saxon