Flag is commonly dated 1954 — 55, but in her 1977
infrared imaging analysis titled «The Infra - Iconography of Jasper Johns,» art historian Joan Carpenter tells of a visitor to MoMA in the»70s who noticed Flag contains a newspaper fragment clearly dating from 1956.
This
analysis was supplemented with new follow - up observations (high - resolution optical and near -
infrared spectroscopy, adaptive optics
imaging, and speckle interferometry), as well as an
analysis of the flux centroids.