If ever two people were meant to cross each other’s paths, it would be Andy Warhol and Michael Jackson. Warhol’s life was devoted to fame, and he treated it from an insider’s point of view, making him not just a portrait painter of the famous, but also a philosopher of fame’s efficacy. Jackson, on the other hand, was a kid who was famous from an early age and, as many observed, a man who spent years trying to avoid the fame he was handed. Jackson lived his last years behind walls, often appearing in public covered from head to toe and wearing a mask.
Warhol mentions Jackson more than two dozen times in his diary, most often discussing their chance meetings, often working on works such as Michael Jackson 23. However, on two occasions in 1984, Warhol actually talks about the portrait of Michael Jackson that now hangs in the National Portrait Gallery. The portrait originated when Warhol was commissioned to create the cover for the March 19, 1984, edition of Time.
