Andy Warhol didn’t say “In the future everyone will be world-famous for fifteen minutes,” though that oft-repeated and much-misattributed quip—which may have come from Moderna Museet director Pontus Hultén or photographer Nat Finkelstein or artist Billy Al Bengston or perhaps even French novelist Alphonse Daudet—has certainly turned out to be prophetic thanks to social media. And while art critic and Warhol biographer Blake Gopnik’s dissection of the misattribution is fascinating, the reason everyone keeps on associating the concept of fifteen minutes of fame with the Pop Art pioneer is obvious. He was a personality when that was something new and exciting—it’s easy to forget that it was once less common to be famous for being famous.

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