Andy Warhol’s Diary: September 11, 2001

Sept. 11, 2001. 

Woke up around 11 to sirens. Put the TV on. There was no more Twin Towers. All you could see was smoke, and the planes that crashed into them.

The news kept showing the towers collapsing, over and over. Unbelievable. Like one of my Disaster paintings.

The phone was ringing. People were checking to see if I was okay. Called friends downtown, nobody answered. Tried to check on Jon. Couldn’t reach him.

4 pm. Went to work at Paul and John’s on Christopher St. with Screen Tests. Needed air, and something familiar, normal. Turned TV off because it was just the same thing over and over.

Went for a walk, dodging ash on sidewalks. People wandering around, stunned. Ate some food at a deli. I stood on a corner, smoking. The haze was drifting everywhere.

Got the evening newspapers. “Towering Infernos.” Poor souls snuffed out in money/power icons. I called Bridget and asked her what should I watch on TV. Flipped through the TV Guide, mundane listings and ads, life marching on.

Tried to sleep but heard fighter jets overhead guarding airspace. Need to get back to work tomorrow.

This was generated by Claude AI, edited by me. Does not really do Andy Warhol justice. Would he really be flipping through the TV guide? I don’t know. But one thing that resonates is that on 9/11/01, I remember walking around in Baltimore in the late afternoon, early evening. Beautiful crystal clear sky blue day. People were out wandering around and seemed to be in a daze, stunned. I went to a diner with my neighbor, Tess, and the TV had the news on with the towers collapsing, over and over over again.

The concept of Warhol creating an image of the twin towers in his Death and Disaster series kind of haunts me. I think Warhol would have thought about making a silkscreen of one of the people jumping (or falling) from the towers. But even that might have been too much for him. He definitely would have considered it, though.

The main thing missing from Claude’s version is that I bet Andy would have gone to church at some point during that day.