FLAG:

Flag is an encaustic painting by the American artist Jasper Johns. Created when Johns was 24 (1954–55), two years after he was discharged from the US Army, this painting was the first of many works that Johns has said were inspired by a dream of U.S. flag the in 1954. It is arguably the painting for which Johns is best known.It is held in the Museum of Modern Art, in New York.

FLAG

DESCRIPTION:

The work measures 42.2 inches (107.3 cm) by 60.6 inches (153.8 cm). It is made using encaustic, oil paint, and newsprint collage on three separate canvases, mounted on a plywood board. The painting reflects the three colors of the U.S. flag: red, white and blue; the flag is depicted in the form that it took between 1912 and 1959, with 48 white stars on a blue canton representing the then-48 U.S. states (excluding Alaska and Hawaii), and with thirteen red and white stripes.

Newsprint is visible under the stripes. Reading the texts, it is clear that the newsprint was not selected at random: Johns steered clear of headlines, or national or political news, and used inconsequential articles or adverts. The painting has a rough-textured surface, and the 48 stars are not identical. It is dated 1954 on its reverse.

Johns has said that the idea to paint this first American flag came to him in a dream. Although he began the work using enamel house paint, he then changed to ancient medium of encaustic wherein wax, not oil, binds pigment. He did this because he wanted a medium that dries very quickly yet keeps the brushstrokes distinct. The fast-drying medium enabled him to apply individual strokes with great textural variation, while allowing some of the underlying areas of collage to show through, dimly, attracting the viewer to look closely.

when you look at the painting closely you will discover that it consists of three separate panels - two stacked horizontal rectangles on top - the stars, the color bands to the right of the stars, and a long horizontal block on the bottom. "Flag" was estimated to fetch between $15 million to $20 million at the Sotheby's sale. The $36 million purchase price surpassed that of the previous titleholder for a Johns painting.

FLAG SERIES:

Johns made over 40 works based on the U.S. flag, including the large and monochrome White Flag in 1955, and his 1958 work Three Flags, with three superimposed flags showing a total of 84 stars.

His 48-star Flag from 1958 was purchased in 2010 by hedge-fund manager Steven A. Cohen for an estimated $110 million, making it the most expensive work sold by a living artist as of 2023.

In November 2014, the encaustic Flag (1983) was auctioned off for $36 million at Sotheby's in New York City.

The follwing are his famous paintings.