Warhol

In Danto's article "The Artworld", he mentions the work of Andy Warhol on a few occasions while discussing his own theory of art. Danto uses the example of Warhol's Brillo Pad painting to expound on his idea about art as imitation.

Another famous example of Warhol's artistic imitation of consumer products is the Campbell's Soup can. Warhol made a career for himself capitalizing on social criticisms and exploring the intentions of modern advertising, which is why I find it so interesting that now there is a corporate interest in Warhol.


Warhol's prints of Marilyn Monroe can be seen on everything now from bags to T-Shirts and are sold in popular stores at, in my opinion, hefty prices. I don't believe the intention of Warhol's work was to perpetuate consumerism, but I may be mistaken. Warhol may have been predicting through these pieces the way that the world works or will work in respect to art. He predicted that everyone will experience their 15 minutes of fame, and through advancements in the internet, this is becoming a far more common occurrence.

My question then would be:

Has Warhol's artistic message been diluted in current years or are things molding after the way he was predicting?