Campbell's Soup Can

Fort Collins, Colorado, United States

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Listed, not yet checked · Oct 2026

This Big Thing is recorded as still being here.

One of three oversized Campbell's soup cans made for Andy Warhol's September 1981 visit to Colorado State University, signed by him, stands in front of the University Center for the Arts, 1400 Remington Street, Fort Collins. CSU said in January 2026 that it remains there.

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Campbell's Soup Can

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Site-level location · 40.5697° N, 105.0746° W

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The story

Andy Warhol signed this oversized Campbell's soup can in person, and it still stands outside a Colorado university arts centre.

In September 1981 Warhol visited Colorado State University in Fort Collins for the opening of an exhibition of his work at the Clara Hatton Gallery, and three giant cans were made for the occasion. According to Peter Jacobs, then chair of the art department, the idea came from a large inflatable can he had seen beside a Colorado highway. A Denver scrap-iron facility donated a 50-foot steel pipe, which was cut into three can-length sections and trucked to Fort Collins nestled in grain for safekeeping.

Jacobs had suggested painting the cans to match Warhol's 1962 silkscreen version, but Warhol told him to copy a can bought at a local grocery store. A CSU graphic design student painted them, bar code included, which the 1962 original lacked. CSU says Warhol signed all three on 1 September 1981.

One can sat on the Department of Art lawn until the late 1980s and was installed in the University Center for the Arts sculpture garden on 29 September 2008. Rust had appeared around its base by then, and in 2013 it was sent to Los Angeles for restoration paid for by donors and then unveiled in front of the arts centre in 2013. In 2019 CSU said another can was in campus storage and the third had been sold to a museum in Japan. In January 2026 the university said one still stands in front of the University Center for the Arts.

Find it at 1400 Remington Street, on the CSU campus.

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An outdoor sculpture in front of the University Center for the Arts on the CSU campus, signed by Andy Warhol in 1981 and restored in 2013 with care taken to conserve his signature. CSU said in January 2026 that it still stands there.

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In front of the University Center for the Arts, 1400 Remington Street, on the Colorado State University campus, Fort Collins.

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