Flower 64 (Flowers Portfolio)
Screen print on paper
91 x 91 cm
Not For Sale
Andy Warhol’s Flowers 64 is a part of Andy Warhol’s Flowers portfolio. This version of Warhol’s Flowers features intense baby blue and fuschia against a bed of forest green grass. All of these colors stand out against a black background. Their vibrancy is stunning, and the work is almost surreal in its use of color. Warhol’s Flowers 64 is a vivid take on the floral motif in Andy Warhol’s Flowers portfolio, and one of the most recognizable images from Warhol’s oeuvre. Andy Warhol’s Flowers is based on a photo by Patricia Caulfield that appeared in the June 1964 issue of the magazine Popular Photography. The original image was cropped and the colors inverted before Warhol added washes of vibrant dyes to the flower petals by hand. The flowers depicted are hibiscus flowers, specifically the mandrinette. Flowers is often viewed as a departure from Warhol’s typical work, which is known for centering around celebrities and well-known brands. The original image was not particularly famous before his appropriation of it, and the floral subject matter is not particularly related to pop culture or commercialism. However, flowers are a subject that Warhol continually revisits in his ouevre. His work with advertisements are made powerful due to their contexts, but flowers are timeless. This is undoubtedly a reason why the Flowers series remains one of Warhol’s most popular portfolios.