Oil painting of Studio 54 ticket inscribed on reverse “To Truman [Capote] Love Andy”

Andy Warhol moved to New York in 1954 and became a leading figure in the Pop Art movement. His fascination with Truman Capote predated their friendship by decades. Warhol’s first solo exhibition in 1952 was called Fifteen Drawings Based on the Writings of Truman Capote, and, according to a 1973 interview with Capote in Rolling Stone, Warhol pursued a friendship by mailing him letters and drawings. Capote, well known after the publication of Breakfast at Tiffany’s (1958), achieved celebrity after In Cold Blood (1966). His friendship with Warhol lasted until Capote’s death in 1984.

Both Warhol and Capote were regulars at Studio 54. Warhol created this oil painting as a gift to Capote only one year after the disco nightclub opened near Times Square, highlighting how quickly it rose in popularity among artists and celebrities.