Dan Flavin

In 1961 Flavin married Sonja Severdija, a student of art history at New York University who worked as an assistant in the Museum of Modern Art offices. At the same time, he
began work on his icons—simple wood constructions he and Sonja built with electric light. Flavin dedicated many of his works to his wife over the coming years, including
this one.

Flavin’s artistic breakthrough came with the diagonal of May 25, 1963 (to Constantin Brancusi), a yellow fluorescent tube light that he mounted at a 45-degree angle on the
wall. The dedication is to sculptor Constantin Brancusi (1876–1957), whose Endless Column at Targu Jiu (1938) served as inspiration. Flavin dedicated a subsequent version
of this work made shortly thereafter, in cool white, to art historian Robert Rosenblum. He attended his lectures at Columbia University in New York.

The group exhibition Eleven Artists, organized by Flavin, opened at the Kaymar Gallery in New York on March 31, 1964. There, Flavin showed his installation alternate
diagonals of March 2, 1964 (1964). The work is part of a series with four different color versions. Flavin later added the dedication (to Don Judd). Flavin met the minimalist artist Donald Judd (1928–1994) in Brooklyn in 1962 and the two became lifelong friends.

This work was first exhibited in Flavin’s solo show dan flavin: fluorescent light at Green Gallery in New York (November 18–December 12, 1964). He dedicated it to his fellow
artist, the painter Jasper Johns (b. 1930), who caused waves in the art world in the 1950s. Flavin placed the work in a corner, making a bold statement by quite literally
illuminating a space typically ignored.

Between 1964 and 1990, Flavin made a total of fifty works in the series “monuments” for V. Tatlin. Russian Constructivist Vladimir Tatlin (1885–1953) was an influential artist
following the 1917 Russian Revolution, and sought to express its ideals in his works. Flavin was particularly impressed by his Monument to the Third International, which
Tatlin planned in 1919–20. It inspired Flavin to create numerous configurations by simply using white fluorescent light. The tower Tatlin planned in the form of a double
helix was never realized due to a lack of materials and structural weaknesses. Tatlin himself fell out of favor during Stalinism.

Flavin dedicated this lightwork to Henri Matisse (1869–1954), a French artist active in the first half of the twentieth century. He was best known for his experiments with color
and his expressive, flat painting style.

The exhibition Primary Structures: Younger American and British Sculptors, curated by Kynaston McShine, opened at the Jewish Museum in New York in April 1966 (April 27–
June 12). Flavin’s work corner monument 4 for those who have been killed in ambush (to P. K. who reminded me about death) was included, and he intended it as a symbol of
protest against the Vietnam War. The dedication to his friend Paul Katz references a conversation in which Katz mentioned how many people had likely lost their lives in the
war. When the exhibition closed, the work was installed in the nightclub Max’s Kansas City, which had become a popular artist gathering spot in Lower Manhattan shortly after
it opened in 1965.

Painter Barnett Newman (1905–1970) died on July 4, 1970. Flavin dedicated the lightwork series untitled (to Barnett Newman) to his deceased friend. Considered an
Abstract Expressionist, Newman’s art was an important source of inspiration for Flavin. Shortly after Newman’s death, Flavin saw his work series Who’s Afraid of Red, Yellow,
and Blue in his studio. Flavin was so enthused by Newman’s exploration of primary colors that he used red, yellow, and blue fluorescent lamps in a number of his own works.

Flavin dedicated this work to Democrat presidential candidate George McGovern, who ran against the Republican Richard Nixon in 1972. Flavin was one of many artists to
support McGovern’s campaign. The work was first shown in the exhibition an exposition of cool white and warm white circular fluorescent light from Dan Flavin at Leo Castelli
Gallery, New York (November 4–25, 1972). The exhibition opened only three days before the presidential election, in which McGovern lost.

Starting in 1968, Flavin worked consistently with German art dealer Heiner Friedrich (b. 1938), who ran a gallery in Munich and immigrated to the United States in 1970.
Flavin made this work for the Dan Flavin: three installations in fluorescent light/Drei Installationen in fluoreszierendem Licht exhibition at Kunsthalle Köln (November 9,
1973–January 6, 1974). Friedrich co-founded the Dia Art Foundation in 1974. He was, and still remains, an important supporter of Flavin’s work.

Flavin made this work for the inner courtyard of Kunstmuseum Basel for a joint exhibition there and at Kunsthalle Basel in 1975. It is dedicated to Swiss Renaissance
artist Urs Graf (1485–1528). Flavin selected a number of his drawings from the museum’s prints department to be exhibited in the Kunstmuseum Basel that spring.

Flavin made two lightworks dedicated to German painter and art theorist Josef Albers (1888–1976), both of which were among other works shown at the large installations by
Dan Flavin exhibition at Heiner Friedrich, Inc. in New York (Januar 15–February 26, 1977). Albers, considered one of the key Bauhaus figures, left Germany in 1933 when
the Nazis came to power and immigrated to the United States, where he taught for many years. He worked closely on color theories as well as the interplay and the effect of
individual colors.

Flavin traveled to many dog shows with his golden retriever, Airily. The dog won several competitions and received the highest rating ever awarded to a golden retriever in the United States. He dedicated this major installation to Airily as a sign of his affection for her.

Flavin dedicated a series to his friend Judd, which references the latter’s artistic work and use of industrially manufactured materials and forms in primary colors with heavy
irony. In 1997, numbers 1 to 5 in the series were installed in the building Judd bought at 101 Spring Street (today the Judd Foundation) in 1986.

In the exhibition Dan Flavin: untitled (for Otto Freundlich) 1990 themes and variationsat Annemarie Verna Galerie in Zurich (May 31–July 14, 1990), Flavin dedicated a work
series to German painter, sculptor, and glass painter Otto Freundlich (1878–1943). Born in Germany, Freundlich moved to Paris in 1924. He lived there until 1943, when he was
deported to a concentration camp and murdered. He is regarded as one of the first abstract artists in Europe, but his work was seized by the Nazis and branded “degenerate.” In 1971, Flavin bought an ink drawing by Freundlich dated 1930.

The exhibition in 1990 at the Donald Young Gallery in Chicago (September 27–October 27) featured this series for the first time. The lightworks were similarly constructed,
apart from the different color combinations, and were arranged as a series in the room. Flavin dedicated the work to the German artist John Heartfield (1891–1968), whose
politically charged works were banned in Germany by the Nazi regime.

Flavin’s early work consists largely of drawings and watercolors. Throughout his career, he dedicated works not only to friends and relatives, but also to historical figures he
admired, such as Vincent van Gogh (1853–1890). Flavin was often inspired by the artists of the previous epochs and had a large collection of drawings from the 19th century. The words “As for my work, I do it at my life’s risk and half my reason has foundered in it.” can be read across the first six pages of Flavin’s leporello. The quote comes from a letter van Gogh wrote to his brother Theo. The letter was found on Vincent’s body after his suicide attempt on July 27, 1890.