Campbell plans special Warhol cans

WASHINGTON - The Associated Press

Limited edition Campbell cans with art by Warhol are displayed at company.

Andy Warhol created pop art icons when he put Campbell’s soup cans in paintings in 1962. Fifty years later, the paintings are inspiring the cans, in a limited edition homage to the artist.

To celebrate the anniversary of Warhol’s work, “32 Campbell’s Soup Cans” -- which helped launch pop art as a major art movement -- the soup company is redesigning the classic red-and-white labels in orange, blue, teal and rose.

The company recalled that Warhol, who died in 1987 at age 58, once said he painted the cans because “I used to have the same [Campbell’s soup] lunch every day for twenty years.” Campbell Soup is “an iconic brand. And thanks to Andy Warhol’s inspired paintings, Campbell’s soup will always be linked to the Pop Art movement,” Ed Carolan, the company’s North America general manager said. The limited edition of cans will have labels derived from Warhol’s original art work.