25 Jasper Johns Quotes on Art, Perception, and Process
Jasper Johns (born 1930) is an American painter, sculptor, and printmaker whose work has been pivotal in the transition from Abstract Expressionism to Pop art and Minimalism. Born in Augusta, Georgia, and raised in South Carolina, Johns moved to New York City in the early 1950s, where he would revolutionize contemporary art.
Johns burst onto the art scene in 1958 with his paintings of American flags, targets, numbers, and maps — familiar, two-dimensional images that blurred the boundary between representation and abstraction. His "Flag" (1954-55), created with encaustic over newspaper, challenged viewers to see a common symbol with fresh eyes, asking whether the painting was a flag or a picture of a flag.
His use of everyday imagery paved the way for Pop art, while his emphasis on surface, process, and materiality connected him to Neo-Dada and anticipated Conceptual art. Johns worked in encaustic, oil, sculpture, and printmaking, bringing the same intellectual rigor to each medium.
Johns's close friendship and artistic dialogue with Robert Rauschenberg proved enormously influential for both artists. Together, they helped dismantle the boundaries between art and life that Abstract Expressionism had erected, opening doors for subsequent generations of artists.
Over a career spanning seven decades, Johns has remained one of the most important living American artists. His work is held in every major museum worldwide, and his paintings regularly command record prices at auction. In 2011, President Obama awarded him the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
Here are 25 quotes from Jasper Johns that offer insight into his thinking about art, seeing, and the creative process.
Who Is Jasper Johns?
| Item | Details |
|---|---|
| Born | May 15, 1930 |
| Nationality | American |
| Occupation | Painter, Sculptor, Printmaker |
| Known For | Flag paintings, Target series, bridging Abstract Expressionism and Pop Art |
Key Achievements and Episodes
Flag: The Painting That Changed American Art
In 1954, Johns dreamed of painting a large American flag. He woke up and began creating Flag, using encaustic (pigmented hot wax) on a collage of newspaper strips. The painting was revolutionary: by depicting a flat, familiar object that was already two-dimensional, Johns collapsed the distinction between painting and object, image and reality. When the painting was exhibited in 1958, it sent shockwaves through the art world, challenging the dominance of Abstract Expressionism and paving the way for Pop Art, Minimalism, and Conceptual Art.
The Most Expensive Living Artist of His Time
In 2010, Johns’s painting Flag sold for $28.6 million, and his works have consistently commanded among the highest prices of any living artist. In 1998, the Metropolitan Museum of Art paid an estimated $20 million for White Flag, one of the largest sums ever spent by the museum. Johns received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2011, cementing his status as one of the most important and influential American artists of the 20th and 21st centuries.
On Art and Meaning
Johns's exploration of art and meaning began with a pivotal dream in 1954 in which he saw himself painting a large American flag — an image so familiar it was nearly invisible. The resulting painting, Flag (1954-1955), executed in encaustic over newspaper on plywood, launched a revolution in American art by presenting a recognizable image that was simultaneously an abstract composition. When Leo Castelli visited Johns's Pearl Street studio in 1958, he was so impressed that he offered him a solo exhibition — an event that effectively launched the Pop Art era. The Museum of Modern Art purchased three works from that first show, and Alfred Barr, MoMA's founding director, declared Johns's work the most important since Picasso. These quotes reveal an artist who spent his entire career questioning the relationship between what we see and what we think we know.
"Take an object. Do something to it. Do something else to it."
Widely attributed to Jasper Johns
"I think a painting should include more experience than simply intended statement."
From an interview with David Sylvester (1965)
"One thing working with the flag gave me was that I didn't have to design it. It gave me room to work on other levels."
On his Flag paintings
"Sometimes I see it and then paint it. Other times I paint it and then see it."
Widely attributed to Jasper Johns
"Meaning is determined by the use of the thing, the way an audience uses a painting."
Widely attributed to Jasper Johns
"I think that one wants from a painting a sense of life. The final statement has to be not a deliberate statement but a helpless statement."
From an interview
On Perception and Seeing
Johns's preoccupation with perception and seeing was influenced by the philosophical writings of Ludwig Wittgenstein and the music of John Cage, both of whom challenged conventional assumptions about meaning and experience. His paintings of targets, such as Target with Four Faces (1955) and Target with Plaster Casts (1955), used an image designed to focus attention as a vehicle for exploring how we process visual information. By choosing subjects that are flat by nature — flags, targets, maps, numbers — Johns collapsed the traditional distinction between the painted surface and the depicted object. His use of encaustic, a wax-based medium that preserves each brushstroke as a visible trace, emphasized the physical reality of the painting as an object. His work at the boundary between abstraction and representation paved the way for Minimalism, Conceptual Art, and postmodern approaches to image-making.
"One thing I can say about my work is that it doesn't bore me."
Widely attributed to Jasper Johns
"I'm interested in things which suggest the world rather than suggest the personality."
From an interview
"The painting has a quality of being seen for the first time."
Widely attributed to Jasper Johns
"Already it's a great deal to see anything clearly, for we don't see anything clearly."
Widely attributed to Jasper Johns
"Most of the power of painting comes through the manipulation of space... but I don't understand that."
Widely attributed to Jasper Johns
"A picture ought to be looked at the same way you look at a radiator."
From an interview with Walter Hopps
On Process and Work
Johns's meticulous working process stands in stark contrast to the spontaneous gesture prized by the Abstract Expressionists who preceded him. He builds his paintings slowly, layering encaustic, oil, and collaged materials to create richly textured surfaces that reward extended contemplation. His printmaking practice, which he began in 1960 at Universal Limited Art Editions (ULAE) in West Islip, Long Island, became a crucial part of his output, with lithographs and etchings that explore the same motifs as his paintings — flags, numbers, maps, and later, crosshatch patterns and the seasons of life. His collaboration with the choreographer Merce Cunningham and composer John Cage, for whom he served as artistic advisor at the Cunningham Dance Company from 1967 to the 1990s, reflects his belief that the creative process is as important as the finished product. Johns continues to work and exhibit prolifically, with major retrospectives at the Whitney Museum in 2021 and the Philadelphia Museum of Art.
"I think you can be more than one thing. I think our society tries to make us believe we have to be one thing."
Widely attributed to Jasper Johns
"Do something, then do something else to it, then do something else to it. Keep building."
Widely attributed to Jasper Johns
"The thing is, if you believe in the unconscious — and I do — there's room for all kinds of possibilities that I prefer to leave undescribed."
From an interview
"I think a picture is more like the real world when it's made out of the real world."
On using found objects in art
On Doubt and Discovery
Johns's willingness to embrace doubt and discovery has kept his art vital across seven decades. His later works, including the Catenary series of the late 1990s and the recent paintings incorporating images from Matthias Grünewald's Isenheim Altarpiece, demonstrate an artist who continues to challenge himself and his viewers. In 2010, President Obama awarded Johns the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation's highest civilian honor. His painting False Start (1959) sold for $80 million in 2006, making it one of the most expensive paintings by a living artist at the time. Despite his enormous commercial success and critical acclaim, Johns has maintained a famously private life, rarely giving interviews and letting his work speak for itself — an approach consistent with his belief that art should raise questions rather than provide answers.
"I wanted to suggest that we are not always aware of what we are looking at."
On his familiar-imagery paintings
"One hopes for something resembling truth, some sense of life, even if one knows from the start that there is no way to achieve it."
Widely attributed to Jasper Johns
"I have no ideas about what the paintings imply about the world. I don't think that's a painter's business."
From an interview
"There seems to be a sort of mystery, a kind of sensation that's useful. I wouldn't want to describe it."
Widely attributed to Jasper Johns
"I think art becomes interesting when there is no escape from it."
Widely attributed to Jasper Johns
Frequently Asked Questions About Jasper Johns
Why did Jasper Johns paint the American flag?
Johns painted Flag in 1954-55, reportedly after dreaming of the American flag. By painting a recognizable, flat, two-dimensional object, Johns challenged the dominant Abstract Expressionist movement by posing a fundamental question: is this a painting of a flag or a flag that is a painting? The work blurred the boundary between art object and everyday symbol. Johns used encaustic (hot wax) mixed with newspaper collage, giving the surface a rich, tactile quality. The painting launched his career and helped inaugurate Neo-Dada and Pop Art movements that shifted art away from pure abstraction.
How much are Jasper Johns paintings worth?
Jasper Johns is one of the most valuable living artists. His painting Flag (1983) sold at Sotheby's in 2014 for $36 million. In 2010, a private sale of his 1959 painting Flag was reported at approximately $110 million, making it one of the most expensive paintings by a living artist. His works regularly sell for eight and nine figures at auction. The Museum of Modern Art, the Whitney Museum, and major collections worldwide hold significant Johns works. His market reflects his critical importance as a bridge between Abstract Expressionism and Pop Art.
What is the difference between Jasper Johns and Robert Rauschenberg's art?
Johns and Rauschenberg, who were partners and close collaborators in the 1950s, took different approaches despite both rebelling against Abstract Expressionism. Rauschenberg's combines incorporated found objects and images in exuberant, chaotic assemblages that embraced the messiness of everyday life. Johns, by contrast, chose familiar, pre-existing symbols — flags, targets, numbers, maps — and rendered them with meticulous craftsmanship, questioning the nature of seeing and representation itself. Where Rauschenberg was expansive and inclusive, Johns was precise and philosophical, making their combined influence on American art enormous.
Related Quote Collections
- Andy Warhol Quotes — a pop artist who continued Johns's exploration of American imagery
- Marcel Duchamp Quotes — the conceptual art pioneer whose ideas deeply influenced Johns
- Jackson Pollock Quotes — the Abstract Expressionist whose dominance Johns helped break
- Keith Haring Quotes — a later American artist who used bold symbols and imagery
- Pablo Picasso Quotes — a revolutionary artist whose formal innovations inspired Johns