60 free Andy Warhol trivia questions with answers — trivia quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
This Andy Warhol trivia quiz runs from Pittsburgh to Studio 54. It starts with the Rusyn immigrant parents, the childhood illness that kept him in bed with movie magazines, the Carnegie Tech scholarship, the shoe illustrations that made him New York's most in-demand commercial artist, and the drawing MoMA politely declined. Then comes the leap to Pop: the Bonwit Teller window, the $50 tip that led to dollar-bill paintings, the 32 Campbell's Soup Cans in Los Angeles, the Marilyns, the Brillo Boxes and the silver Factory. The second half covers the films and the Velvet Underground, the Exploding Plastic Inevitable, the 15-minutes remark, Valerie Solanas and the shooting that left him in a surgical corset for life, Interview magazine, the Sticky Fingers zipper, the dachshunds, the Mao and Reigning Queens series, Basquiat, the Amiga portrait of Debbie Harry, the Love Boat cameo, the gallbladder operation and the wig he was buried in, then the museum, the Time Capsules and the record prices. Difficulty runs from easy to expert and is shown on every question. Every answer was checked against a reference page and each question carries its citation. Try our Salvador Dalí and Banksy quizzes next.
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Q 01In which US city was Andy Warhol born in 1928?
Pittsburgh
His parents were working-class Rusyn immigrants from Austria-Hungary; his father worked in a coal mine.
Q 02Warhol's parents came from Miková, a village in what is now which country?
Slovakia
They were Ruthenian Catholics; a funeral liturgy in English and Church Slavonic was said for him in 1987.
Q 03Which neurological condition, also called St. Vitus' Dance, did young Warhol develop?
Sydenham's chorea
Bedridden, he drew, made scrapbooks from Hollywood magazines and cut up comic books bought for him.
Q 04Warhol's father died in 1942 after years earlier drinking contaminated water where?
In a West Virginia coal mine
Andy was about to graduate from Holmes School at the time.
Q 05Warhol's prize-winning Carnegie Tech drawings satirised customers from which summer job?
Produce huckster
He called the job a 'wonderful experience' and concluded that 'people are funny'.
Q 06Warhol earned his Bachelor of Fine Arts in 1949 in which subject?
Pictorial design
He was reportedly threatened with expulsion several times over his attendance record and worked as a window dresser at Horne's.
Q 07Warhol's first commercial commission, from Glamour magazine in 1949, was to illustrate what?
Shoes
Art director Tina Fredericks had first bought a $10 drawing of an orchestra from him on his second day in New York.
Q 08Warhol's first solo exhibition in 1952 consisted of drawings based on the writings of which author?
Truman Capote
Gallerist Alexander Iolas is often credited with discovering him and staging the show at the Hugo Gallery.
Q 09Warhol's 1950s drawing technique, combining printmaking and pencil work on paper, was known as what?
Blotted line
He inked a pencil drawing, pressed it onto another sheet while wet, and embraced the accidental breaks.
Q 10Which shoe manufacturer's advertisements made Warhol famous as a fashion illustrator from 1955?
Israel Miller
'Nobody drew shoes the way Andy did,' said John Coplans; the work won an Art Directors Club award in 1956.
Q 11In 1956 MoMA politely declined Warhol's gift of a drawing called Shoe, citing what?
Limited storage space
The same year one of his shoe drawings appeared in MoMA's Recent Drawings U.S.A., his first museum showing.
Q 12Whose calligraphy did Warhol often use alongside his drawings in his self-published 1950s books?
His mother's
Julia Warhola lived in the basement of his Lexington Avenue townhouse from 1960; his last portrait at the old Factory was of her.
Q 13Warhol's first Pop paintings were shown in April 1961 as a backdrop in which store's window?
Bonwit Teller
Q 21Warhol's mural for the 1964 New York State Pavilion, Thirteen Most Wanted Men, met what fate?
It was painted over before the fair opened
Government officials objected to the mugshot images on the New York State Pavilion.
Q 22Warhol's 1964 Stable Gallery show featured sculptures of what, sold for $200 to $400 each?
Commercial cartons such as Brillo boxes
Also Del Monte, Heinz, Kellogg's and Mott's; the original Brillo design was by commercial artist James Harvey.
Q 23Warhol's Cow wallpaper of 1966 came from a suggestion by which art dealer?
Ivan Karp
They included Saturday's Popeye, Superman and Before and After, hand-painted with drips in the Abstract Expressionist manner.
Q 14Why did Leo Castelli initially decline to represent Warhol in 1961?
His work seemed too close to Roy Lichtenstein's
The Bodley Gallery's director called the new paintings 'ridiculous'; Warhol was left without representation as Pop took off.
Q 15For a $50 tip, friend Muriel Flatow suggested Warhol paint what he liked most. What was it?
Money
He started painting dollar bills, which led him to Tiber Press and the basics of silkscreen printing.
Q 16How many canvases did Warhol send to the Ferus Gallery in Los Angeles for his July 1962 show?
32
Each showed a different variety of Campbell's Soup; he claimed to have eaten it for lunch for 20 years.
Q 17Which dealer gave Warhol his first solo New York Pop show in 1962, in exchange for a painting of a $2 bill?
Eleanor Ward
The Stable Gallery show included Marilyn Monroe Twenty Times, Gold Marilyn, Red Elvis and 100 Soup Cans.
Q 18Warhol's Flavor Marilyns of 1962 were named for their colours and what?
Life Savers candy flavours
Marilyn Diptych from the same year is now at Tate Modern.
Q 19Who fired a gun through four of Warhol's Marilyn canvases in 1964, creating the Shot Marilyns?
Dorothy Podber
One of the four later sold for $195 million, the most ever paid at auction for an American artwork.
Q 20Who covered the Factory in aluminium foil and silver paint in 1964?
Billy Name
The studio at 231 East 47th Street became the hub for silkscreens, films and the 'superstars'.
It later served as the backdrop for his 1971 Whitney retrospective.
Q 24Warhol's Empire (1965) is a static shot of the Empire State Building lasting how long?
Eight hours
Between 1963 and 1968 he made more than 600 underground films, including the silent Screen Tests.
Q 25Warhol's 1965 film Vinyl was a loose adaptation of which novel?
A Clockwork Orange
His 1964 Batman Dracula was an unauthorised homage screened only at his exhibitions.
Q 26Which band did Warhol manage, financing and providing the cover for their 1967 debut album?
The Velvet Underground
They rehearsed at the Factory and played his multimedia shows at the Dom on St. Mark's Place.
Q 27Warhol's 1966 multimedia shows with his house band at the Dom were called what?
Exploding Plastic Inevitable
He and Paul Morrissey subleased the Dom, later the Electric Circus, and toured the show across the US and Canada.
Q 28Why was Chelsea Girls not screened at Cannes in 1967 as Warhol intended?
Organisers said it was too long and had technical problems
The Factory 'superstars' in his films included Edie Sedgwick, Viva, Ultra Violet and Candy Darling.
Q 29Warhol's remark that everyone would be famous for 15 minutes first appeared where?
A 1967 Time magazine article
He later hosted an MTV show called Andy Warhol's Fifteen Minutes.
Q 30Whom did Warhol send to impersonate him on a West Coast college lecture tour in October 1967?
Actor Allen Midgette
He reimbursed the four colleges and went back in person in 1968.