Warhol Post Shooting
Warhol’s factory was a veritable hangout for any and all kinds of people, and the manner of company Warhol chose to keep changed drastically as time went on. In the beginning he would have all manner of prostitutes, junkies, transvestites and basically any one else who wanted to see what was going on. It went on like this until a woman made an attempt on Warhol’s life. Valerie Solanas a common face at the factory but a bit mentally unstable attempted to take his life. She wrote a script for a movie that she wanted Warhol to produce called S.C.U.M Manifesto, SCUM standing for the Society For Cutting Up Men. Warhol never actually intended on producing this, but led Valerie to believe that he would. Eventually Valerie gave up hope that her script would be made into a film and when she asked for it back Warhol claimed he’d lost it. Fed up — Valerie entered the factory with a loaded gun and shot Warhol twice as well as curator and friend Mario Amaya once. Miraculously Warhol survived, but had a deep-rooted fear of hospitals, which 
would be a key factor in his death later on.
would be a key factor in his death later on. Andy claimed that living life was more like watching TV than watching TV because when you watch TV they make the emptions look so real while in real life its almost like everything is happening to someone else and your just watching from above (Stiles). Despite Warhol’s immense popularity his shooting was for the most part unnoticed due to the assassination of Robert F. Kennedy a couple days later. Andy’s life certainly quieted down after the shooting. Similar to the American government it takes a tragedy before we work to prevent one, and the factory scene was for a time dead. Warhol never entirely emotionally recovered from his near death experience, and his filmmaking career all but ended.
Andy may have been done with the drug addicts, hookers, and transvestites he liked to surround himself with, but by no means was he done with his art work. In fact this was when his portrait art picked up tenfold, now instead of the underbelly of society Warhol began surrounding himself with the rich and famous. Warhol began creating portraits of celebrities such as Mick Jagger, John Lennon, Liza Minnelli, and one of his most famous paintings was that of the leader of China Mao Zedong. This painting went on to become a world famous image. Andy was thought by all to be more of an observer than an actual partygoer. “I'd prefer to remain a mystery. I never like to give my background and, anyway, I make it all up different every time I'm asked. It's not just that it's part of my image not to tell everything, it's just that I forget what I said the day before, and I have to make it all up over again” (Hou). Warhol was honestly thought to be crazy by most of his companions, but despite many deficiencies and diseases Warhol was an absolute genius when it came to three things, business, art, and manipulation.
Andy liked to surround himself with up and coming artists, and he really helped a lot of them get their start. One of the most compelling in his posse of talent was Jean Michel Basquiat. Basquiat began his career as a graphite artist and soon enough joined the Neo-Expressionist art movement. Warhol discovered him early and they became rather close. In the documentary depicting Basquiat’s life Warhol plays an essential role in being the one to spring board Basquiat to the top of the food chain, “Wanna buy some ignorant art,” is the first line Basquiat says to Warhol in the documentary, and Warhol buys every piece he was shown. When Basquiat hears about Warhol’s death toward the end of the movie he becomes deeply depressed and begins a downward spiral toward an inevitably suicide by drug overdose.
In 1987 Andy Warhol died due to complications following gallbladder surgery. Many believe the complications were caused by medical malpractice The New York Hospital was even sued by Warhol’s estate for a wrongful death suit. The primary argument was that Warhol was pumped with twice the necessary fluids and left completely unattended. The fluids caused Warhol to slip into a coma and eventually his heart failed. As far as the fluids go, Warhol weighed 22 pounds more in autopsy than he did in life. He was anemic and malnourished yet at check in the doctor wrote that he was perfectly healthy, and he was given painkillers which even further reduced his heart rate increasing the risk of heart failure. Warhol had avoided hospitals like the plague and loan behold, ‘twas his worst fear that was his end.
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