Indiana first began experimenting with his stacked LOVE image in 1964, in a series of rubbings that he sent to friends as Christmas cards. This drawing was given to Gene Swenson, an art critic and early champion of the artist’s work.
Over the following months Indiana would experiment further with this format, painting the first canvases in his LOVE series. In May of 1965 the first LOVE painting to be offered for sale was included in a solo exhibition at the Rolf Nelson Gallery, Los Angeles, and in November the Museum of Modern Art’s Christmas card featuring a red, blue, and green version of LOVE was released. It was through this Christmas card that the LOVE image first reached a wide audience; it was not, however, originally created for the card.