Artist: Jim Dine
Title: The Blue Heart
Medium: Color Lithograph on BFK Rives
Size: 26.25" x 20.25"
Frame: 41.5" x 35.75"
Edition: 129/200
Inscription: Signed, dated, and numbered on lower front
Year: 2005
Documentation: Gallery Certificate of Authenticity
Jim Dine's "The Blue Heart" (2005) exemplifies the artist's enduring engagement with the heart motif, one of the most iconic and recurring images throughout his career. Rendered here in bold color and dynamic gesture, the heart transcends its conventional associations with sentimentality to become a symbol of formal exploration and emotional resonance.
This lithograph, measuring 26.25" x 20.25", features a vivid interplay of saturated hues. Bright yellows, greens, and reds create an energetic ground against which deep blue forms pulse with vitality. The central heart, outlined with expressive strokes, emerges from this vibrant surface with both immediacy and depth. Dine's layering of texture and color conveys movement, giving the work an almost painterly quality despite its print medium.
Created in a limited edition of just 200 impressions, "The Blue Heart" is signed, dated, and numbered by the artist on the lower front, underscoring its authenticity and collectability. The edition number 129/200 further emphasizes the scarcity of this work within Dine's celebrated printmaking practice.
"The Blue Heart" reflects Dine's mastery of lithography and his ability to infuse a repeated motif with endless variation. For the artist, the heart is not merely a decorative shape but a vessel for artistic experimentation—an emblem that allows him to explore line, color, texture, and emotional intensity. With its striking palette and expressive force, "The Blue Heart" stands as a testament to Dine's ongoing innovation and his pivotal role in postwar American art.
About Jim Dine
Jim Dine (b. 1935) is an American artist whose career spans more than six decades and encompasses painting, drawing, printmaking, sculpture, photography, and performance. Associated with Pop Art yet never confined to its boundaries, Dine has developed a distinct visual language rooted in personal symbolism, expressive mark-making, and the reinvention of traditional motifs. His art blends autobiography with universal imagery, creating works that are both deeply personal and widely resonant.
Born in Cincinnati, Ohio, Dine studied at the University of Cincinnati, the Boston Museum School, and the School of the Art Institute of Chicago before earning his BFA from Ohio University in 1957. Shortly afterward, he moved to New York City, where he emerged as a central figure in the 1960s art scene. Dine was an innovator of "Happenings," a form of performance art that blurred the boundaries between theater and visual art. These early collaborations with Allan Kaprow, Claes Oldenburg, and other avant-garde artists established his reputation as a creative force willing to experiment across media.
Although frequently linked to Pop Art, Dine's work diverges from the movement's detachment and irony. Instead, he infused his art with emotion and symbolism. Recurring motifs—including hearts, bathrobes, tools, and Venus de Milo—function as personal emblems while also engaging broader cultural associations. For example, Dine's bathrobe paintings serve as stand-ins for self-portraiture, while his repeated heart imagery conveys both sentimentality and formal abstraction. His fascination with tools, drawn from his grandfather's hardware store, merges autobiography with a celebration of craftsmanship and labor.
Printmaking has been central to Dine's practice, and he has created an extensive body of etchings, woodcuts, and lithographs. His technical mastery and inventive use of the medium have earned him recognition as one of the foremost printmakers of his generation. Equally important is his sculptural work, ranging from monumental bronze figures to assemblages that incorporate found objects. In each medium, Dine's exploration of surface, gesture, and symbolism reveals a consistent commitment to materiality and emotional resonance.
Over the course of his career, Jim Dine has been the subject of major retrospectives and international exhibitions. His work is represented in the collections of leading institutions, including the Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Art Institute of Chicago, the Tate in London, and the Centre Pompidou in Paris. Through this wide exposure, Dine has secured his place as a significant voice in postwar American art.
Dine's legacy lies in his ability to merge personal history with universal themes, producing work that is both intimate and expansive. His sustained exploration of symbols such as hearts and tools demonstrates how repetition can generate endless variation and meaning. By integrating emotional depth with technical innovation, Jim Dine continues to influence contemporary artists and remains a vital figure in the history of modern and contemporary art.
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