Untitled, from the portfolio “Flowers”

In 1964, Andy Warhol’s paintings of hibiscus flowers were a radical departure from his earlier work depicting grocery store products and political or Hollywood icons. These new, shiny flowers presented in an endless variety of color combinations surprised the art world. As usual, however, he was onto something: famed poet Allen Ginsburg coined the term “flower power” the following year in San Francisco. By 1970, when he published these screenprints as a new, more accessible version of the paintings, the concept had entered the public imagination.

Warhol borrowed his image of flowers from the popular press, specifically the June 1964 issue of Modern Photography magazine. He first cropped the photograph and rotated the image. His assistants then copied and recopied it many times over, which degraded the image and removed its photographic detail, resulting in the high-contrast image seen in these prints.