Andy Warhol Ate The Same Old-School Lunch For 20 Years, And It's Still An Icon

Andy Warhol is one of the most celebrated artists of the 20th century and a leading figure of Pop Art. The 1960s art movement was based on using images from pop culture, which Warhol famously did with works like his Marilyn Monroe and Elvis Presley portraits. Perhaps most iconic, however, are his "Campbell's Soup Can" paintings, which reproduced cans of the soup brand that was itself an icon and had long been a mainstay of his own meals.

Warhol was a commercial artist looking to make a splash in the art world when he exhibited the 32 paintings in 1962, one for each of Campbell's condensed soup flavors at the time. Speaking about the soup the following year, he said, "I used to drink it. I used to have the same lunch every day, for 20 years, I guess, the same thing over and over again" (per The Andy Warhol Museum).

Warhol is said to have been inspired by a friend, Muriel Latow, who told him he needed a subject that was familiar to all. Campbell's itself was wary of the paintings at first and even considered legal action. But the company eventually came around and sent Warhol cases of his purported favorite, tomato soup.

Campbell's began in 1869 when fruit and vegetable seller Joseph Campbell and canner Abraham Anderson launched a canned vegetables business called Anderson & Campbell. The first soup, Beefsteak Tomato, wasn't introduced until 1895, when the company was using the name Joseph Campbell Preserve Co. Condensed soups, which could be sold in smaller, lighter cans, debuted two years later, and there were 20 flavors by 1899. These included Oxtail, Mock Turtle, and Pepper Pot (one of the canned foods we may never see again after its discontinuation in 2010).

The label's classic red-and-white color scheme was introduced in 1898, inspired by the uniform colors of Cornell University's football team, after a company executive saw them at a game. When the company won a product excellence bronze medal at the 1900 Paris Exposition, a small image of it was added to the label, where it remains today. The company name was officially changed to Campbell Soup Company in 1922. Fast forward 100 years, and Campbell's now offers more than 80 condensed soups, including customer favorites like Chicken Noodle, Cream of Mushroom, Cream of Chicken, and Tomato, a high finisher in our tomato soup brands ranking.

Campbell's soup reached the height of its popularity in the mid-20th century, but it still remains firmly part of the American consciousness. Just make sure to skip the Chunky Creamy Chicken & Dumplings flavor — it was the worst Campbell's soup flavor we tried in our taste test.