Robert Indiana’s Decade: Autoportrait paintings are a series of autobiographical portraits that he began in 1971. The works, which the artist considered a throwback to his American Dream series, consist of three groups of ten paintings in different sizes: 24-, 48-, and 72-inches. The 24- and 48-inch works made their debut in Robert Indiana: New Paintings and Sculpture, held at the Galerie Denise René, New York, November 22–December 30, 1972.
The series provides a portrait of his life in the 1960s, and includes references to important names, places, and events. The number "25" and "Coenties," at the bottom of Decade: Autoportrait 1961, refer to the address of his studio, 25 Coenties Slip, where he had lived since 1957. "St. John" refers to his partner, fashion designer John Kloss, who lived with him at that address from 1959 to 1963. "Take" and "American" are refrences from his painting The American Dream, I, which he completed in 1961. Decade: Autoportrait 1961 also employs the same color palette as The American Dream, I.