WASHINGTON -- Most people might find a repetitive routine monotonous.

Not Andy Warhol.

For the late Pop Art master, repetition offered a wealth of creative possibilities.

And, as two exhibitions at separate Washington art institutions reveal, Warhol’s artistic take on repetition varied widely, from inventive interpretations of tabloid journalism to moody abstraction.

The first show, at the National Gallery of Art, spotlights Warhol’s fascination with the news and the trappings of fame. Warhol: Headlines presents about 80 works in a variety of media, including paintings, drawings, prints, photographs, sculpture, film and video, at the National Gallery through Jan. 2.

The exhibit proves a visual feast, celebrating Warhol’s colorful spin on the ephemeral, superficial and repetitive nature of the news.

Warhol’s witticism “Everyone will be famous for 15 minutes” assumes a new connotation in this show. Not everyone could become the subject of a headline. But through his headlines art, Warhol could extend the elusive nature of fame well beyond the fleeting time frame in his famous quip.

Warhol’s background as an award-winning commercial illustrator in the 1950s drew him almost magnetically to the showy and repetitive nature of consumer tabloid news. His first serious foray into headline art took shape in drawings and paintings during the early 1960s, in which he experimented with cropping and varying text size to generate a dramatic effect.

Later works also include Warhol’s headline collaborations with artists Jean-Michel Basquiat and Keith Haring from the 1980s.

Across the National Mall from the National Gallery, the second exhibit at the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden provides a very different perspective of Warhol’s approach to repetition.

Unlike the Headlines display, Andy Warhol: Shadows has only a single piece — a grand work comprised of 102 silkscreened and hand-painted canvases. Created by Warhol in 1978, each panel draws from a photograph of shadows inside the artist’s studio.

First exhibited in 1979, Shadows had not been seen as a complete group until it went on view at the Dia Art Foundation in New York City in 1998.

•  The National Gallery of Art is between 3rd Street and 9th Street at Constitution Avenue NW; 202-737-4215; www.nga.gov/exvhibitions/2011/warhol/index.shtm. Hours: 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Saturday, 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Sunday. (Closed on Dec. 25 and Jan. 1.) Admission: Free

•  The Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden is at 7th Street and Independence Avenue, SW; 202-633-1000; www.hirshhorn.si.edu. Hours: 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., daily. (Closed on Dec. 25). Admission: Free