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Lot Essay
This work will be included in the forthcoming Robert Indiana catalogue raisonné being prepared by Simon Salama-Caro.
With its iconic motif of letters arranged in a perfect one-foot square, this LOVE painting by Robert Indiana is undeniably one of the most iconic symbols in the American cultural landscape. Indiana takes the word "love," a simple, yet emotionally charged term and transforms it into a powerful emblem of the 1960s. The red, white, and blue color palette intimates the patriotic nature of the piece and alludes to the essence of the artist's famous American Dream series. The sides of the canvas are also painted, metamorphosing this two dimensional painting into a sculptural object in its own right and highly reminiscent of the artist's LOVE sculptures recognized around the world.
LOVE was originally designed for a Christmas card commissioned by the Museum of Modern Art in 1965 and comprised of red letters against a green and blue background. The original LOVE color scheme was inspired by his childhood memories; Indiana recalls that his father worked for Phillips 66, a gas station company,"I would see, practically every day of my young life, a huge Philips 66 sign. So it is the red and green of that sign against the blue Hoosier sky. The blue in LOVE is cerulean. Therefore my LOVE is a homage to my father" (R. Indiana, quoted by S.E. Ryan, Figures of Speech, New Haven, p. 206).
With its iconic motif of letters arranged in a perfect one-foot square, this LOVE painting by Robert Indiana is undeniably one of the most iconic symbols in the American cultural landscape. Indiana takes the word "love," a simple, yet emotionally charged term and transforms it into a powerful emblem of the 1960s. The red, white, and blue color palette intimates the patriotic nature of the piece and alludes to the essence of the artist's famous American Dream series. The sides of the canvas are also painted, metamorphosing this two dimensional painting into a sculptural object in its own right and highly reminiscent of the artist's LOVE sculptures recognized around the world.
LOVE was originally designed for a Christmas card commissioned by the Museum of Modern Art in 1965 and comprised of red letters against a green and blue background. The original LOVE color scheme was inspired by his childhood memories; Indiana recalls that his father worked for Phillips 66, a gas station company,"I would see, practically every day of my young life, a huge Philips 66 sign. So it is the red and green of that sign against the blue Hoosier sky. The blue in LOVE is cerulean. Therefore my LOVE is a homage to my father" (R. Indiana, quoted by S.E. Ryan, Figures of Speech, New Haven, p. 206).