15 Captivating Insights into Jasper Johns’s Iconic ‘Flag’

In 1954, Jasper Johns transformed the art scene by redefining everyday symbols such as targets, numerals, and alphabets, beginning with his groundbreaking piece Flag.

1. Flag was created after Jasper Johns completed his military service.

Born in Georgia in 1930, Johns spent two years in the Army during the Korean War, stationed in South Carolina and Sendai, Japan. After returning to New York City in 1953, where he had briefly studied at the Parsons School of Design, he attended Hunter College before leaving to focus on his art. By 1954, he was ready to produce what would become his most celebrated work.

2. The artwork was inspired by a dream.

Johns once revealed, “I dreamt of painting a massive American flag one night, and the very next day, I gathered the materials to start the project.”

3. The making of Flag followed an act of destruction.

Art historian Isabelle Loring Wallace noted in her book, “Johns took two pivotal steps to define his artistic identity. First, he destroyed all his previous works to ensure his art bore no visible influence from others. Then, he created Flag.”

4. The origins of Flag might be tied to Johns’s given name.

In a 1990 interview with Interview magazine, Johns reflected on his life and shared a revealing story: “In Savannah, Georgia, there’s a statue of Sergeant William Jasper in a park. While walking there with my father, he mentioned we were named after him. I’m unsure if it’s true, but Sergeant Jasper died raising the American flag over a fort.” This tale, whether factual or not, deeply influenced the artist.

5. The artwork challenged the prevailing Abstract Expressionism movement.

Abstract Expressionism, popularized by figures like Jackson Pollock in the 1940s, dominated the art world in the 1950s. However, Johns rejected its emphasis on emotional color and gesture, instead drawing inspiration from everyday symbols.

As Johns once stated, “By using the American flag’s design, I avoided the need to create a composition from scratch. This led me to explore other familiar symbols like targets—things already ingrained in the mind. It freed me to focus on deeper artistic expression.” With composition and color predetermined, these elements pushed Johns to innovate in unexpected ways.

6. Instead, Flag is considered a Neo-Dadaist work.

This movement incorporates modern materials, everyday imagery (such as the American flag), and elements of absurdity, while rejecting conventional artistic norms.

7. The artwork’s unique appearance comes from unconventional materials.

Johns constructed the base using three plywood panels and a cut-to-size bedsheet. According to the Museum of Modern Art, he applied oil paint and encaustic—a technique involving pigmented melted wax. He dipped strips of cloth and newsprint into the wax, adhering them to the sheet to fill in a penciled flag outline. The textured paint creates a lumpy, tactile surface, while its translucency allows newspaper print to show through in certain areas. This method invites viewers to closely examine and reinterpret the familiar stars and stripes.

8. Johns randomly selected the paper strips for his work.

Infrared imaging reveals a chaotic collage beneath Flag, including crossword puzzles, a player piano receipt, and stock notices. One peculiar clipping is a panel from the comic Dondi, dated February 15, 1956—two years after the painting’s supposed completion. Johns later explained that the artwork was damaged during a 1956 party, and he patched it using available newspaper scraps.

9. The creation of Flag involved experimentation.

Johns remarked, “I spent a long time on that painting. It’s physically deteriorated because I initially used house enamel paint, which dried too slowly. Then I recalled hearing about wax encaustic, which dried quickly and preserved my brushstrokes.”

10. The painting technique has roots in ancient methods.

Encaustic painting, or hot wax painting, traces its origins to the Romano-Egyptian Fayum mummy portraits from the 1st century. Beeswax was used not only to bind pigments but also to add a three-dimensional quality to artworks. With modern heating tools, the technique became more accessible, and Johns’s revival of this ancient method captivated the contemporary art scene.

11. The artwork is massive.

Flag spans 42 1/4 inches by 60 5/8 inches, measuring over feet by 5 feet.

12. Flag has been seen as both a patriotic and unpatriotic statement.

Johns, a former soldier turned artist, redefined the American flag with his work Flag. Created in the same year the McCarthy hearings ended, the piece is often interpreted as having political undertones, though its exact message remains debated.

13. The Museum of Modern Art may have hesitated due to political concerns.

In 1958, Flag attracted the attention of Alfred Barr, MoMA’s director, during its display at the Leo Castelli Gallery. While Barr wanted to acquire it for the museum, he worried about public backlash if the piece was seen as unpatriotic. He persuaded architect Philip Johnson to purchase it privately. Years later, as Barr retired, Johnson donated Flag to MoMA in his honor, where it remains on display.

14. Johns has never clarified the meaning behind Flag.

Johns could clarify the political ambiguity surrounding his work, but he maintains that his art is meant to be interpreted freely by viewers. He has never defined their meanings, instead describing his paintings as “facts.”

15. Flag is just one of Johns’s numerous flag-themed artworks.

Johns produced over 40 flag-inspired works, with Flag, White Flag, and Three Flags being the most renowned. For White Flag, he used encaustic and newsprint but omitted red and blue, incorporating charcoal instead. Three Flags, featuring three layered canvases, set a record in 1980 when the Whitney Museum acquired it for $1 million, the highest price for a living artist’s work at the time. In 2010, another of Johns’s flag paintings from 1958 shattered that record, reportedly selling for $110 million to hedge fund billionaire Steven Cohen.

This article, originally published in 2015, has been revised and updated for 2023.