The Valiant Red Car

Jim Dine, The Valiant Red Car, 1960, oil on canvas, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Mr. and Mrs. David K. Anderson, Martha Jackson Memorial Collection, 1980.137.22
Copied Jim Dine, The Valiant Red Car, 1960, oil on canvas, 52 1⁄8 x 129 7⁄8 in. (132.5 x 330.0 cm), Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Mr. and Mrs. David K. Anderson, Martha Jackson Memorial Collection, 1980.137.22

Artwork Details

Title
The Valiant Red Car
Artist
Date
1960
Location
Not on view
Dimensions
52 1⁄8 x 129 7⁄8 in. (132.5 x 330.0 cm)
Credit Line
Gift of Mr. and Mrs. David K. Anderson, Martha Jackson Memorial Collection
Mediums
Mediums Description
oil on canvas
Classifications
Subjects
  • Abstract
  • Architecture — vehicle — automobile
Object Number
1980.137.22
Linked Open Data
https://edan.si.edu/saam/id/object/1980.137.22

Artwork Description

Dine was driving along a mountain road when he heard a radio report that his college roommate had been killed in an automobile accident. He was stunned and his own car ran off the road. Between 1959 and 1962, he memorialized the tragedy in a series of drawings, paintings, and prints and in a Happening called The Car Crash for which The Valiant Red Car served as a backdrop. The painting also pays homage to art dealer Martha Jackson, who offered Dine $4,000 a year to stop teaching elementary school and paint full time. “The Valiant Red Car was a celebration of her red Valiant. It was a way for me to depict our relationship without giving up my own iconography.”

Modern Masters: Midcentury Abstraction from the Smithsonian American Art Museum, 2008