His portraits marked the world of art and are still iconic today. And the crowds for this exhibition should be as large as the artist’s reputation…


Movie stars, musicians, artists, the jet-set… starting from the early 60s you weren’t really famous unless Warhol had done your portrait. The new technique used – mixing photography and painting – was an immediate succes despite the obvious – and voluntary – repetition of style and size, always the same.

As Warhol himself said, “All my portraits have to be the same size, so they’ll all fit together and make one big painting called Portraits of Society. That’s a good idea, isn’t it? Maybe the Metropolitan Museum would want it someday.”

Ethel Scull 36 times, Andy Warhol, 1963, lent by the Metropolitan Museum of Art, jointly owned by the Whitney Museum of American Art and The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Gift of Ethel Redner Scull, 2001
© 2009 Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts Inc. / Adagp, Paris 2009

For this exhibition of Warhol portraits, the biggest of it’s kind ever organised in a state-owned French museum, 250 works will be presented. We highly recommend that you buy your tickets in advance to avoid the queues.

Here’s all the essential information for the Warhol’s Wide world exhibition at the Grand Palais in Paris

Whenn: 18th March – 13th July 2009
Where: Galeries nationales du Grand Palais, 3 avenue du Général Eisenhower, 75008 Paris, métro Champs-Élysées-Clemenceau (lines 1 & 13). Bus n°s 28, 32, 42, 49, 72, 73, 80, 83 & 93
Opening hours: open every day except Tuesdays from 10am – 10pm (8pm on Thursdays)
Admission: adults 11 euros, concessions 8 euros
Official exhibition site: here

Bigger map here