On the surface, the imagery of Andy Warhol Flowers, 1970 series is a lighthearted celebration of life. The simple arrangement of four colorful flowers, however, has a deeper meaning of the fleeting nature of life, beauty, and mortality. The prior decade was marred with The Vietnam War, the suicide of Marilyn Monroe, and the assassinations of President Kennedy and Martin Luther King, Jr.

The artist's original Flowers painting followed his 1963 Death and Disaster paintings. On one hand, its simple beauty contrasts the morbid theme of the previous paintings. On the other hand, as described by Christie's lot essay from 2018, "Despite its outward beauty however the image also belies a darker side, an aspect that is accentuated by the particular use of the red and black color combination [of the original painting]." [1]

Warhol’s studio assistant Ronnie Cutrone explained,  “We all knew the dark side of those Flowers. Don’t forget, there was flower power and flower children… but we were the roots, the dark roots of that whole movement.” [2]

The original image for Warhol’s Flowers was a color photograph of seven flowers taken by Patricia Caulfield for Modern Photography magazine.

The series depicts 10 screen prints of colorful and vibrant mandrinette hibiscus flowers. This image was cropped and the colors inverted before Warhol added colorful dyes by hand.

Warhol requested that image be viewable in any direction and were installed in a random mix of "any side up". The pop art icon said, "I like painting on a square, because you don't have to decide whether it should be longer-longer or shorter-shorter or longer-shorter: it's just a square." [3]

Their popularity on the art market is evident through the portfolio's sales of tens of thousands of dollars.

Today, Andy Warhol’s Flowers remain one of the artist's most popular series.

Citations

[1] Christies lot essay author, "Andy Warhol (1928-1987) Four-foot Flowers: Lot Essay", Christies, https://www.christies.com/lot/lot-andy-warhol-1928-1987-flowers-6141800/

[2] R. Cutrone, quoted in J. O'Connor and B. Liu, Unseen Warhol, New York, 1996, p. 61

[3] D. Bourdon, Warhol, New York, 1989, p. 191