Fifteen minutes of fame

What's the meaning of the phrase 'Fifteen minutes of fame'? This is a well-known as a quotation from Andy Warhol. It does derive from Warhol - his actual line was "In the future everybody will be world famous for fifteen minutes.".

What's the origin of the phrase 'Fifteen minutes of fame'?

In February 1968 Warhol exhibited his first international retrospective exhibition at the Moderna Museet gallery in Stockholm. The exhibition catalogue contained "In the future everybody will be world famous for fifteen minutes.". It is far and away the best-known of the many quotations attributed to Warhol, in fact it is probably the only comment of his that most people know.

The line began to bore Warhol in later years when interviewers kept asking him about it. In 1979 he did repeat it though, claiming that the line had truth - "my prediction from the sixties finally came true: In the future everyone will be famous for fifteen minutes.".

As things have turned out the rise of celebrity culture and reality television in the Western world since then has shown Warhol to be quite prophetic. The rise of social media has turned his prophecy into fact - topics may be trending on social media and receiving worldwide attention and fifteen minutes later cease trending and be forgotten.

See other phrases that were coined in the USA.