Queen

Media - 2022.11.5 - SAAM-2022.11.5_1 - 147440
Copied Audrey Flack, Queen, 1976, acrylic on canvas, 80 × 80 in. (203.2 × 203.2 cm), Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Louis K. and Susan P. Meisel, 2022.11.5

Artwork Details

Title
Queen
Artist
Date
1976
Location
Dimensions
80 × 80 in. (203.2 × 203.2 cm)
Credit Line
Gift of Louis K. and Susan P. Meisel
Mediums
Mediums Description
acrylic on canvas
Classifications
Keywords
  • Still life — flower
  • Still life — fruit
  • Dress — accessory — jewelry
  • Still life — toy — cards
  • Dress — accessory — makeup
Object Number
2022.11.5
Linked Open Data
https://edan.si.edu/saam/id/object/2022.11.5

Artwork Description

What do the objects in this painting symbolize? Queen echoes a genre of Renaissance still-life paintings known as "vanitas" that serve as reminders of the inevitability of change and death. In such a work, a pocket watch represents the unrelenting march of time, and a dewy flower is symbolic of youthful beauty that will one day wither.

Audrey Flack has said that she made this painting "for all women, particularly women gamblers"--a reference to her mother, whose portrait appears, alongside the artist's, in the open locket just below the queen of hearts playing card. To the left, Flack depicts another queen--a chess piece, the most powerful in the game and therefore an emblem of female power and importance.