When people look at Warhol's popular works, they also see him in other ways, such as an experimental photographer and an explorer of abstraction.

The exhibition focuses on his interest in photography, which "hasn't really been explored in a very dense way", Diaz says, adding that people look at Warhol not only as someone "who was using Polaroid cameras to make and produce his portrait commissions" or someone "using appropriated images－photos made by other people", but also as someone "who documented his world－certainly Warhol as the creature of the night－and recorded the life around him".

The exhibition also places a strong emphasis on Warhol as a filmmaker, "something that is sort of underappreciated", says Diaz.

Moore says that when he first arrived at Pittsburgh, he was amazed to find "arguably the most famous Western contemporary artist had an entire body of work (films) that was pretty much unknown or certainly largely unknown".

He adds, "More of the films are being discovered all the time. We are in the process of digitally transferring them."

A few items on show have rarely been exhibited to the public before, including three Polaroid Big Shot cameras, invented in 1971.

"They are chunky and plastic, and they cost about $20 when they came out. Warhol loved them and used them to do a lot of the celebrity portrait commissions," says Diaz.

A projector from the 1950s and an Oricom camera from 1964 that Warhol used for his feature-length films are also exhibited. Diaz says the Oricom camera is an item being exhibited for the first time outside the Pittsburgh museum.

After Beijing, the exhibition will move on to UCCA Edge, the art institution's Shanghai space.