Three Flags

Jasper Johns' Three Flags (1958) is a groundbreaking work that challenges perceptions of national symbols through its layered, textured surface created with encaustic techniques. The painting features three overlapping American flags, blurring the boundaries between figurative imagery and abstraction. As a key figure in the development of Pop art, Johns combines everyday motifs with innovative approaches, elevating common symbols into high art. Housed in the Whitney Museum of American Art since 1980, Three Flags is recognized as a landmark of 20th-century art, reflecting a complex interrogation of identity and perception.