Last Supper (Warhol)

Pop artist Andy Warhol was raised Catholic and remained a devout practitioner throughout his life. Initially conceived as a commission for the gallerist Alexander Iolas, the Last Supper series reinterpreted Leonardo da Vinci's The Last Supper (Il Cenacolo) through Warhol's characteristic strategies of appropriation, seriality, and repetition. Warhol exceeded the scope of the commission, producing nearly 100 variations on the theme between 1985 and 1986, primarily silkscreens and paintings, including the collaborative sculpture Ten Punching Bags (Last Supper) (1985) with Jean-Michel Basquiat. The Last Supper series was first exhibited in January 1987 at the former refectory of the Palazzo delle Stelline in Milan, opposite Santa Maria delle Grazie, which houses da Vinci's mural The Last Supper. Warhol died shortly after the opening in February 1987, followed by Iolas' death in June 1987. Central to the exhibition at the Palazzo delle Stelline was Camouflage Last Supper (1986), a monumental work measuring more than 25 feet in length and overlaid with a military-style camouflage pattern. == Critical response ==

The Last Supper series received a mixed but substantial critical response. In 1987, writing in Artforum, critic Jole De Sanna described it as Warhol's "most complex work that he produced in the years after his celebrated silkscreen prints of famous personalities." The image prompted Dillenberger to locate more work by Warhol inspired by the subject. While Warhol also produced works drawing on other religious imagery and texts, Dillenberger argues that it was in the Last Supper series that his "concealed religiosity" most fully emerged in his art. She cites curator Lynne Cooke's view that it was arguably Warhol's "greatest series." The paintings are discussed in "Loving the Alien", the sixth and final episode of the 2022 Netflix docuseries The Andy Warhol Diaries. == Exhibitions ==

The Last Supper series was first shown in the exhibition Andy Warhol – Il Cenacolo at the Palazzo delle Stelline in Milan from January to March 1987. From June 1991 to July 2001, the Guggenheim Museum SoHo in New York hosted the significant, long-running exhibition Andy Warhol: The Last Supper. In 2017, the Museo del Novecento in Milan held an exhibition of the works in honor of the thirtieth anniversary of their Milanese debut. The Last Supper series was featured in the exhibition Andy Warhol: Revelation at the Brooklyn Museum in New York from November 2021 to June 2022. The exhibition examined Warhol's Catholic faith through a range of his works. == Art market ==

In May 2008, art dealer Jose Mugrabi purchased Detail of the Last Supper (Christ 112 Times) (1986) for $9.5 million at Christie's in New York. Measuring 6 by 35 feet, it features a black grid with Christ's face outlines in yellow. In November 2017, Sixty Last Suppers (1986) sold for $60.9 million at Christie's in New York. In May 2025, The Last Supper (1986), a double image in blue and black, sold for $7.07 million at Christie's in New York. In November 2025, The Last Supper (1986), a double image in yellow and black from the Edlis | Neeson Collection, achieved $8.1 million at Christie's in New York. ==References==