“LOVE” by Robert Indiana

“LOVE” by Robert Indiana is a Pop Art image consisting of the letters L and O stacked over the letters V and E in bold Didone type. The O is slanted sideways with a slanted oblong space making the image dynamic.

Art Historians have described Indiana’s image as having many meanings and connections, including erotic, religious, autobiographical, and political.

The original image had green and blue spaces backing red lettering. It was created as a print image for a Museum of Modern Art Christmas card in 1965. The “LOVE” image was adapted in the 1960s by the hippie free love movement.

These original design image colors were used on a 1973 United States 8 cent postage stamp.

The first rendering of “LOVE” into sculpture was made in 1970 and is displayed in Indiana at the Indianapolis Museum of Art. The first sculpture was made of corten steel alloy.

The “LOVE” sculpture design has since been reproduced in a variety of formats for rendering in displays around the world. Robert Indiana has also created works in other media, including paper, tee shirts, and silkscreens.

Indiana said he was inspired to use the original colors because his dad used to work at a Phillips 66 gas station whose colors were green and red. Robert Indiana described the unique colors as:

“the red and green of that sign against the blue Hoosier sky.” 

Versions of the sculpture now exist in Hebrew, Chinese, Italian and Spanish, as well as the original English.

Amor (Love) housed in the National Sculpture Garden in Washington, DC.
In Spanish, “amor” means “love,” but the French for love is “amour.”

The image has been rendered and parodied in many forms, including LP or music cover images, book covers, TV series, and movies. Google has also posted a special Valentine’s Day edition of its logo based on the famous icon.

In 1977, Indiana created a Hebrew version with the four-letter word Ahava (אהבה “love” in Hebrew), for the Israel Museum Art Garden in Jerusalem.

Ahava (‘Love’ in Hebrew) by Robert Indiana

Robert Indiana

Robert Indiana (1928 – 2018) was an artist associated with the pop art movement. Today, Indiana’s works are in the permanent collections of numerous museums.

In 2008, Indiana created an image similar to his iconic “LOVE,” but this time showcasing the word “HOPE,” and donated all proceeds from the sale of reproductions of his image to Democrat Barack Obama’s presidential campaign, raising more than $1 million.

Editions of the sculpture have been released and sold internationally, and the artist himself has called “HOPE” – “Love’s close relative.”