Jasper Johns was a painter, sculptor and printmaker. He was one of America's best-known post-abstract expressionists and minimalists. When people think of Jasper Johns they usually think of images of flags and numbers. Johns completed his first flag painting in 1955. He was born in Allendale, South Carolina and grew up without formal art training, but attended the University of South Carolina for two years. In 1949 he moved to New York City but was drafted into the Army. Returning to New York, he began to experiment with styles and “Flag”, from 1955, earned him his first great attention. It was revolutionary in that it was simply a geometric design on a large canvas, separated from any emotion. In later years, Johns used the same approach with other images that were traditionally symbols. From 1956 to 1957 he added numbers to his paintings. In 1960 he created his first lithographs. In 1959, his work became very abstract with very bold colors with letters and other symbols, such as maps and some difficult to read. In the late 1990s, Johns worked at a barn in Sharon, Connecticut, and had a strange hobby: raising bees. I think Jasper Johns' earlier work was simpler and just "there", while his later work was much more diverse. Some of his later paintings were extremely colorful and vibrant, while others depressed you just by staring at them. I also believed that his later work required much more skill on his part. I find that the painting of the Uni...