This painting is based on a color photograph of hibiscus flowers taken by Patricia Caulfield and published in Modern Photography magazine in June 1964. Warhol appropriated, cropped, flattened and distorted the image, rendering it boldly graphic. By reproducing the same image in large quantities, he created an effect of decoration, even wallpaper, with the aura of consumerism and advertising of the 1960s. Stripping the subject matter of its uniqueness, this creative act opposed the legacy of the expressive and intimate gestures of Abstract Expressionism. Pure white blossoms, symbolic of beauty and fragility, are juxtaposed against the dark background with abstracted grass blades. This may allude to Warhol’s preoccupation with themes of life and death.