Flag (painting)

Flag is an encaustic painting by the American artist Jasper Johns.

This painting was the first of many works that Johns made, as he said, that were inspired by a dream of the U.S. flag in 1954.

It is made using encaustic, oil paint, and newsprint collage on three separate canvases, mounted on a plywood board.

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.

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

Detail of Flag (1954–55). Museum of Modern Art, New York. This image illustrates Johns's early technique of painting with thick, dripping encaustic over a collage made from found materials such as newspaper. This rough method of construction is rarely visible in photographic reproductions of his work.