Big Electric Chair, 1967-68

Donna De Salvo: In 1967, '68, he made a number of electric chair paintings, repurposing the image that he had earlier used in 1963. 

Narrator: Warhol had announced his “retirement” from painting a few years before—somewhat ironically. In fact, he did continue to make paintings that recycled old subjects to new, experimental ends. 

Donna De Salvo: This idea of the optics and the kind of vibration that is created by the clash of these color combinations really enhances the—not only surreal, but almost sense of a psychedelia, of an almost kind of science-fiction view of the subject.

Narrator: In the late sixties, Warhol grew interested in using art in mind-altering ways. He also became increasingly involved with music and counterculture performance. Working with the band the Velvet Underground, he created a kind of avant-garde discotheque, with light and sound assaulting the senses.