The Figure Five
The Figure Five is a 1963 oil painting by Robert Indiana. It measures 152.4 by 127 centimetres and belongs to the Smithsonian American Art Museum, which records it as a museum purchase under object number 1984.51.[1]
A painting after a poem
Indiana took inspiration from Charles Demuth's 1928 painting of the number five. Demuth had responded to William Carlos Williams's poem The Great Figure, written after an encounter with a passing fire engine in Manhattan, New York City. Indiana's work therefore links painting with poetry and an everyday street scene.[1]
The canvas is one of five paintings Indiana made in the series. These combine numbers with three-letter words, drawing on the appearance of signs and targets. The Smithsonian's interpretation connects the three repeated fives with the sound of an approaching siren, and with the 35 years separating Demuth's painting from Indiana's.[1]
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Smithsonian American Art Museum. The Figure Five. Object record 1984.51 and exhibition label (2006). Accessed 10 October 2026.