Flowers (Hand-Colored) 113 by Andy Warhol is one of ten hand-colored screenprints from the artist’s 1974 Hand-Colored Flowers portfolio. In this version, Warhol depicts a bouquet of large, open blooms rising from a slender vase. The composition balances strong black lines with pale hand-applied washes of green and pink. The careful contrast between contour and color gives the work both structure and lightness. With its graceful simplicity, Flowers (Hand-Colored) 113 captures the gentle rhythm of Warhol’s line drawing at its most refined.
Hand-Coloring as a Return to the Artist’s Touch
The Flowers (Hand-Colored) series followed Warhol’s earlier Black and White Flowers portfolio, both of which drew inspiration from the mid-century wallpaper catalog Interpretive Flower Designs. While the earlier series emphasized contour and composition, these works introduced soft pigment applied by hand using Dr. Martin’s aniline watercolor dyes. The color spreads lightly across the surface, merging the precision of printmaking with the spontaneity of painting. As a result, no two prints are identical—each one reflects small variations in pressure, hue, and saturation. This individuality became central to Warhol’s ongoing fascination with the tension between repetition and uniqueness.
Flowers (Hand-Colored) 113 in Warhol’s Broader Practice
Works such as Flowers (Hand-Colored) 113 mark a moment when Warhol reconnected with his roots as an illustrator. Rather than the bold Pop Art icons of Campbell’s Soup or Coke, these prints echo the gentle line work of his 1950s commercial drawings, including his shoe illustrations. By hand-coloring each print, Warhol restored a visible trace of the artist within a process often defined by mechanical detachment. Printed by Alexander Heinrici, Flowers (Hand-Colored) 113 bridges design and emotion, showing that even repetition can hold the warmth of the human hand.
Photo credit: Andy Warhol at the opening of his “Flowers” exhibition, Galerie Ileana Sonnabend, Paris. Photo by Harry Shunk & János Kender, May 12, 1965.
