Cows

In the context of a glamorous career famous for portraying celebrities, brand labels, and pop culture icons, a cow may seem an unlikely subject for Andy Warhol. Printed in four vibrant neon color combinations on wallpaper, many collectors and institutions who own the work have chosen to install Cow directly on their walls, including at Warhol’s 1966 show at Leo Castelli Gallery, where a single room was covered from floor to ceiling with Warhol’s bright pink and yellow Cow. Warhol worked with two notable collaborators on these eccentric works—a Pop art dealer named Ivan Karp suggested the unlikely subject, and Warhol’s printmaker Gerard Malaga provided the photograph upon which the screenprint is based.