''Three Flags'' is a 1958 painting by American artist

Jasper Johns Jasper Johns (born May 15, 1930) is an American painter, sculptor, and printmaker whose work is associated with abstract expressionism, Neo-Dada, and pop art. He is well known for his depictions of the American flag and other US-related top ...

. The work comprises three canvases painted with hot wax. The three canvases form a tiered arrangement, with each canvas approximately 25% smaller than the one below, thereby creating a three-dimensional work. Each canvas is painted to resemble the version of the United States flag that was in use at the time the work was painted, with 48 white stars in a blue canton on a field of thirteen alternating red and white stripes. Each flag is rendered with the approximately correct colors and proportions, as defined by Title 4 of the United States Code. In a sense, the perspective is reversed, with the smaller paintings projecting out towards the viewer. Only the topmost smallest painting is fully visible; the two behind are only partially visible. The painting was acquired by the

Whitney Museum of American Art The Whitney Museum of American Art, known informally as "The Whitney", is an art museum in the Meatpacking District and West Village neighborhoods of Manhattan in New York City. It was founded in 1930 by Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney (1875–194 ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

for $1 million in 1980 from art collectors Burton and

Emily Hall Tremaine Emily Hall Tremaine (1908–1987) was a prominent art director and collector. She published ''Apéritif'', a society magazine. Early life Tremaine was born in Butte, Montana, in 1908. The Tremaine Collection Hall Tremaine's interest in art beg ...

, to celebrate its 50th anniversary. Since the early 1960s, ''Three flags'' has been included in numerous exhibitions, and different kinds of books and magazine articles focused on art and American history.(March 15, 2019)
Jasper Johns. ''Three flags'', (1958)
''artdesigncafe''. Retrieved February 2, 2020.

References

Flags of the United States Paintings by Jasper Johns 1958 paintings Paintings in the collection of the Whitney Museum of American Art Flags in art {{20C-painting-stub