According to Andy Warhol the answer yes. His painting of the Campbell’s tomato soup tin has become an iconic image of the 1960’s.

Some critics say that Warhol’s work was fake, and some even suggest that he was a hoax. However, many others believe that there is much more to his work than meets the eye.

Warhol was not just painting a tin of soup. He was expressing through his artwork the huge wave of consumerism that had taken over society. The 1950’s and 1960’s saw the birth of branding. People were not buying the tin because it was tomato soup, but because it was Campbell’s.

His work, like the brands he drew, appealed to the masses, because everybody could relate to it; from the President, to a Hollywood star to Mr/Mrs Average. Warhol was passionate about popular culture and this is why he wanted to produce popular art (pop art).

In order to define his niche in art, he needed to define his subject matter. He painted the things he loved and things he had a passion for. He was quoted as saying that he ate Campbell’s soup for lunch everyday, clearly the motivation behind his painting then!