Andy Warhol. Rorschach. 1984

Andy Warhol Rorschach 1984

  • Not on view

This painting belongs to a series modeled on the famous "inkblot" test invented by the Swiss psychiatrist Hermann Rorschach. Whereas the actual test provides ten standardized blots for a patient to decipher, Warhol invented his own, achieved by painting one side of a canvas and then folding it vertically to imprint the other half. Ironically, Warhol originally misinterpreted the clinical process, believing that patients created the inkblots and doctors interpreted them: “I thought that when you went to places like hospitals, they tell you to draw and make the Rorschach Tests. I wish I’d known there was a set.” Because of this misunderstanding, Warhol’s Rorschach series is one of the few in which the artist does not rely on preexisting images.

Gallery label from 2013.
Medium
Synthetic polymer paint on canvas
Dimensions
13' 8 1/4" x 9' 7" (417.2 x 292.1 cm)
Credit
Purchase
Object number
323.1999
Copyright
© 2023 Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
Department
Painting and Sculpture

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