Figure 6

Jasper Johns

Print

National Gallery of Art

Jasper Johns transforms the familiar numeral into something quietly electric here, stacking translucent fields of red, orange, and yellow beneath a pale, sketched number 6. The image feels both spontaneous and carefully built, with the visible drawn marks giving the surface a human, almost handwritten presence against the glowing color bands. Johns, one of the most influential American artists of the postwar era, is known for turning ordinary signs and symbols into layered meditations on perception and meaning. This print has the bold graphic clarity to make a striking statement on a wall, while still rewarding close looking with its subtle tension between color, line, and memory.